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THE FLEET. 



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Cfje jfleet 



X" 



ITS RIVER, PRISON, AND MARRIAGES 



V JOHN ASHTON 



{Aut>ior 'jf " Social Life in the Reign of S^ucert j^nne," " Daivn of the Nineteenth 
Century,^' &c., &€., ©"f.) 



ILLUSTRATED BY 

PICTURES FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS AND ENGRAVINGS 




SCRIBNER AND WELFORD 

1888 




L 




VIEW OF MOOTH OP THE KLEET circa 1765. (Guildhall Att Collection.) 



[Frontispiece. 



BY TRAN=«FER 
JL:. 



A 



^"f 
x'^,,*- 






, n^ 



PREFACE. 



THIS book requires none, except a mere statement 
of its scheme. Time has wrought such changes in 
this land of ours, and especially in its vast Metro- 
polis, " The Modern Babylon," that the old land-marks 
are gradually being effaced — and in a few generations 
would almost be forgotten, were it not that some one 
noted them, and left their traces for future perusal. All 
have some little tale to tell ; even this little River Fleet, 
which with its Prison, and its Marriages — are things 
utterly of the past, entirely swept away, and impossible 
to resuscitate, except by such a record as this book. 

I have endeavoured, by searching all available sources 
of information, to write a trustworthy history of my 
subject — and, at the same time, make it a pleasant book 
for the general reader. If I have succeeded in my aim, 
thanks are due, and must be given, to W. H. Overall, 
Esq., F.S.A., and Charles Welch, Esq., Librarians to 
the Corporation of the City of London, whose friendship, 
and kindness, have enabled me to complete my pleasant 
task. It was at their suggestion that I came upon a 



viii Preface. 

veritable trouvaille, in the shape of a box containing 
Mr. Anthony Crosby's Collection for a History of the 
Fleet, which was of most material service to me, espe- 
cially in the illustrations, most of which were by his own 
hand. 

I must also express my gratitude to J. E. Gardner, 
Esq., F.S.A., for his kindness in putting his magnificent 
and unrivalled Collection of Topographical Prints at my 
disposal, and also to J. G. Waller, Esq., F.S.A., for his 
permission to use his map of the Fleet River (the best 
of any I have seen), for the benefit of my readers. 

JOHN ASHTON. 




CONTENTS. 



Zhc 1R i V c r. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Course of the Fleet — Derivation of its Name — The River of 
Wells — The Fleet choked up — Cleansing the Fleet — The 
Fleet Navigable — Wells — Ponds and Pools ... ... i 



CHAPTER II. 

Water Supply of London — The Fleet to be Cleansed — Smell 
of the River — Prehistoric London — Antiquarian Dis- 
coveries — Cleansing the Fleet — Fouling the River — 
Rivers rising at Hampstead — The Tye-bourne — The 
West-bourne — Course of the West-bourne 



13 



CHAPTER in. 

Course of the Fleet — The Hampstead Ponds — Rural Fleet — 
Gospel Oak — Parliament Hill — Kentish Town — Brown's 
Dairy — Castle Inn — St. Pancras Wells — Burials at St. 
Pancras — the Brill 



25 



X Contents. 

CHAPTER IV. 

PAGE 

Battle Bridge — King's Cross — The Dust-heaps — St. Chad's 

Well— St. Chad's Well-water 39 

CHAPTER V. 

Medicinal Waters — Spas — The White Conduit — White Con- 
duit House — White Conduit Gardens ... ... ... 53 

CHAPTER VI. 

Sadler's Discovery — Miles's Musick House — A Man Eats a 
Live Cock, &c. — Forcer, the Proprietor — Macklin on 
Sadler's Wells — Actors at Sadler's Wells — The Pindar of 
Wakefield e-j 

CHAPTER VII. 

" Black Mary's Hole" — Its Disappearance — Bagnigge Wells 

— Nell Gwyn's Houses — Bagnigge House ... ... 77 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Bagnigge Wells — The Organist — Different Proprietors — 

" Punch " on Bagnigge Wells — Decadence of the Wells 87 



CHAPTER IX. 
Cold Bath Fields Prison 

CHAPTER X. 



99 



The "Cold Bath"— Cold Baths— Sir John Oldcastle— Archery 
— Tea Gardens — Small Pox Hospital — The Pantheon — 
Lady Huntingdon's Chapel — Lady Huntingdon... ... iii 



Contents. xi 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Spencean System — Orator Hunt — Riot in the City — 

Riots — End of the Riots ... ... ... ... ... 127 

CHAPTER XII. 

Fighting — Hockley-in-the-Hole — Bear Baiting — Bear Gardens 

— Bull Baiting — Sword Play ... ... ... ... 137 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Mount Pleasant — Saffron Hill — Old House in West Street — 

Fagin — Field Lane — Thieves ... ... ... ... 153 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Bleeding Hart Yard — Ely Place — John of Gaunt — Ely Chapel 

— Turnmill Brook — The Fleet — Holborn Bridge ... 163 

CHAPTER XV. 

Lamb's Conduit — Clerkenwell — Fleet Market — Rye-House 

Plot — Fleet Bridge ... ... ... ... ••• '79 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Alderman Waithman — John Wilkes — Ludgatc Prison — Sir 

Stephen Foster ... ... ... ... ... ... 193 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Bridewell — Montfichet Castle — Fuller on Bridewell — Ward 
on Bridewell — Howard on Bridewell — Bridewell Prison 
The City and Apprentices — Mother Cresswell — Bride- 
well Court Room ... ... ... ... ... ... 205 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Alsatia — Whitefriars — Deaths in the Fleet — Ben Jonson and 

the Fleet ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 223 



xii Contexts. 

Zbc jflcet prieoiu 



CHAPTER XIX. 

PAGE 

History of the Fleet Prison — Female Wardens — Settlement of 
Fees — Liberty of Prisoners — Filthy State of the Fleet — 
A Quarrelsome Knight — Preference for the Fleet Prison 
— Sir John Falstaff — Cardinal Wolsey ... ... 229 

CHAPTER XX. 

Prisoners — •Puritans — Bibliography of Fleet Prison — A 

Warden's Troubles ... ... ... ... ... 243 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Warden of the Fleet — Purchase of Wardenship — Bad 
Discipline — Boundaries of the Fleet — Preference for the 
Fleet ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 255 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Complaints of the Warden — The Warden keeps Corpses — 
Huggins and Bambridge — Castell — The First Prisoner 
in Irons — Acquittal of Huggins and Bambridge — Bam- 
bridge and his Prisoners — Chapel in the Fleet Bagging 265 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Admission to the Fleet Prison — The Humours of the Fleet ... 279 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Garnish — The "Common Side" — Howard's Report — Regu- 
lations of the Prison — Gordon Riots — Burning of the 
Fleet Prison — Fleet Prison Rebuilt — The "Bare" — 
Racket Masters — A Whistling Shop — x'^ Mock Election 
" Dum Vivimus^ Vivamus''' — Number of Prisoners — De- 
stitution ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 293 



Contents. xiii 

CHAPTER XXV. 

I'ACE 

Escape of Prisoners — A Gang of Forgers — Abolition of Im- 
prisonment for Debt — Prisoners Object to move — Op- 
position to Removal — " The Last Days of the Fleet " — 
Sale of the Fleet Prison — Begging Grate — Richard 
Oastler ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 313 



fleet HDarriaoce, 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Illegal Marriages — Cost of Marriages — Peculiars — Suppression 
of Irregular Marriages — A Fleet Parson's Reflections — 
Fleet Parsons — An Heiress Married ... ... ... 327 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

John Gaynam — The Bishop of Hell — Edward Ashwell — John 

Floud — Walter Wyatt ... ... ... ... •••339 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The Lillcys — Fleet Parsons — Parson Keith ... ... ... 351 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

"The Bunter's Wedding" — Fleet Parsons — Exchange of 

Wives — Singular Marriage — Irregular Marriage ... 363 

CHAPTER XXX. 

A Runaway Marriage — Fortune's Married — Illegal Marriage 
— Fleet Marriage Registers — Extracts from Registers — 
End of Marriages ... ... ... ... ... ... 375 

INDEX 387 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

shepherd's well, HAMPSTEAD... ... ... ... ... 22 

the fleet, kentish town ... ... ... ... 28 

view of the valley of the fleet and highgate church, 

from fortess terrace, kentish town, sept. 28, 1 845 ... 29 

the fleet at kentish town ... ... ... ... 30, 3 i 

old house, kentish town, supposed to have been nell 

gwynne's ... ... ... ... ... ... 33 

THE FLEET AT KENTISH TOWN BROWNE's DAIRY FARM, SEPT. 

21, 1833 34 

CASTLE, KENTISH TOWN ROAD, 1 848 ... ... ... ... 35 

THE BRILL ... ... ... ... ... ... 37 

BATTLE BRIDGE ... ... ... ... ... 40,41,42 

DUST HEAP AT BATTLE BRIDGE ... ... ... ... 45 

ST. chad's well ... ... ... ... ... ... 49 

THE WHITE CONDUIT ... ... ... ... ... 54, 62 

STONE IN THE WHITE CONDUIT ... ... ... ... 57 

WHITE CONDUIT GARDENS (iNTERIOr) ... ... ... 64 

„ „ „ (exterior) ... ... ... ... 65 

the pindar of wakefield ... ... ... ... 75 

BAGNIGGE HOUSE ... ... ... ... ... ... 82 

BAGNIGGE WELLS, NEAR BATTLE BRIDGE, ISLINGTON ... 85 
A VIEW TAKEN FROM THE CENTER BRIDGE IN THE GARDENS OF 

BAGNIGGE WELLS ... ... ... ... ... 88 

WAITER FROM THE BREAD AND BUTTER MANUFACTORY; OR, THE 

HUMOURS OF BAGNIGGE WELLS ... ... ... 89 



xvi List of Illustrations. 

PAGE 

THE BREAD AND BUTTER MANUFACTORY ; OR, THE HUMOURS OF 

BAGNIGGE WELLS ... ... ... ... ... 89 

A BAGNIGGE WELLS SCENE; OR, NO RESISTING TEMPTATION ... 9O 

THE BAGNIGGE ORGANIST ... ... ... ... ... 9I 

THE ANCIENT RIVER FLEET, AT CLERKENWELL, 1 82 5 ... I OO 
SOUTH VIEW OF THE COLD BATHS ... ... ... II3 

THE SMALLPOX HOSPITAL IN COLD BATH FIELDS ... ... II8 

VIEW OF NORTHAMPTON OR SPA FIELDS CHAPEL, WITH THE 

COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON'S HOUSE ADJOINING ... ... I 24 

FAGIN, THE JEW ... ... ... ... ... ... I 59 

FIELD LANE NEGOTIATIONS ; OR, A SPECIMEN OF " FINE DRAWING " I 60 
ELY HOUSE 1784 ... ... ... ... ... ... 169 

END OF HOLBORN BRIDGE, TAKEN FROM THE SOUTH, AND PART OF 

HOLBORN HILL, JUNE 2, 1 84O ... ... ... 1 75 

HOLBORN BRIDGE ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 77 

lamb's CONDUIT, SNOW HILL ... ... ... ... 18I 

FLEET MARKET, FROM HOLBORN BRIDGE ... ... ... 1 87 

BRIDEWELL BRIDGE... ... ... ... ... ... 2O7 

WOMEN BEATING HEMP ... ... ... ... ... 2I3 

PASS ROOM, BRIDEWELL, I 808 ... ... ... ... 21 5 

THE ARREST ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 228 

BAMBRIDGE ... ... ... ... ... ... 273 

A PRISONER IN IRONS ... ... ... ... ... ... 274 

THE COMMON SIDE OF THE FLEET PRISON ... ... 278 

THE FLEET PRISON ... ... ... ... ... ... 296 

RACKETS IN THE FLEET PRISON, I760 ... ... ... 3O3 

A WHISTLING SHOP IN THE FLEET, 1 82 1 ... ... ... 306 

AUTOGRAPH DONE AT THE PARLOUR NO. I, PALAIS DE LA FLETE, 

THIS 24 DAY JUNE ... ... ... ... ... 3II 

FARRINGDON STREET AND THE FLEET PRISON ... ... 322 

GROUND PLAN OF FLEET PRISON ... ... ... ... 323 

SECTION OF THE PRISON ... ... ... ... ... 323 

EXTERIOR OF THE GRATE ... ... ... ... ... 324 

A FLEET WEDDING... ... ... ... ... ... 362 

THE sailor's FLEET WEDDING ENTERTAINMENT ... ... 364 

ILLUSTRATIONS WILL ALSO BE FOUND AT PAGES 1 7 1, I "2, 1 84, 
280, 294, 304, 307, 308, 319, 335. 



The Fleet : 



3|t0 iRitjet, lg)ri0on, ant) carriages. 



CHAPTER I. 



ONLY a little tributary to the Thames, the River 
Fleet, generally, and ignominiously, called the 
Fleet Ditchy yet it is historically interesting, not only 
on account of the different places through which 
its murmuring stream meandered, almost all of which 
have some story of their own to tell, but the reminis- 
cences of its Prison stand by themselves — pages of 
history, not to be blotted out, but to be recorded as 
valuable in illustration of the habits, and customs, of 
our forefathers. 

The City of London, In its early days, was well 
supplied with water, not only by the wells dug near 
houses, or by the public springs, some of which still 
exist, as Aldgate Pump, &c., and the River Thames; 

2 



2 Course of the Fleet. 

but, when its borders increased, the Walbrook was 
utilized, as well as the Fleet, and, later on, the Tye- 
bourne, or twin brook, which fell into the Thames at 
Westminster. In the course of time these rivulets 
became polluted, land was valuable ; they were 
covered over, and are now sewers. The course of the 
Fleet being clearly traceable in the depression of 
Farringdon Street, and the windings of the Tyebourne in 
the somewhat tortuous Marylebone Lane (so called from 
the Chapel of St. Mary, which was on the banks of 
"le bourne," or the brooks). Its further course is kept 
in our memory by Brook Street, Hanover Square, 

The name of this little river has exercised many 
minds, and has been the cause of spoiling much good 
paper. My own opinion, backed by many antiquaries, 
is that a Fleet means a brook, or tributary to a larger 
river, which is so wide, and deep, at its junction with the 
greater stream as to be navigable for the small craft 
then in use, for some little distance. Thus, we have 
the names on the Thames of Purfleet, Northfleet, and 
Southfleet, and the same obtains in other places. Its 
derivation seems to be Saxon — at least, for our 
language. Thus, in Bosworth's " Dictionary of the 
Anglo-Saxon Language," we find, "Flede-Fledu : part. 
Flooded; overflowed: tumidus - : Tiber fledu wear's 3 
— the Tiber was flooded (Ors. 4. 7)." 

^ The name of this church has been Latinized as " Sancta Maria 
de Ossibus" ! 

^ Swollen. 

3 The real quotation in Orosius is "pa wearS Tiber seo ea 
swa fledu." 



Derivation of its Name. 3 

Again, the same author gives : " Fleet {Plat fleet, 
m. a small river; Ger. flethe. f. a channel). A ■place 
where vessels floaty a bay, gulf-, an arm of the sea, the 
onouth of a river, a river ; hence the names of places, 
as Northfleet, Southfleet, Kent; and in London, Fleet 
ditch; sinus. ^ Soes Fleot, a hay of the sea.^ Bd. 

1.34." 

Another great Anglo-Saxon scholar — Professor Skeat, 

in " An Etymological Dictionary of the English 
Language " : " Fleet, a creek, bay. In the names 
North-fleet, Fleet Street, &c. Fleet Street was so 
named from the Fleet Ditch ; ^nd. fleet was given to any 
shallow creek, or stream, or channel of water. See 
Halliwell. yi.'E. fleet (Promptorium Parvulorum, &c., 
p. 166). A.S. fleot, a bay of the sea, as in Soes Fleot, 
bay of the sea. Alfred's tr. of Beda, i. 34.- After- 
wards applied to any channel or stream, especially if 
shallow. The original sense was ' a place where vessels 
float,' and the derivation is from the old verb fleet, to 
float, &c." 

The French, too, have a cognate term, especially in 
Norman towns, as Barfleur, Honfleur, Harfleur, &c., 
which were originally written BcLvheflot, Huneflot, and 
Hareflot : and these were sometimes written Hareflou, 
Huneflou, and Barfleu, which latter comes very near to 

^ A bag, or purse, a fold of a garment ; a bay, bight, or gulf, 
2 I cannot find this quotation in " Boedoe Historia Ecclesiastica," 
Sec, in any edition I have seen, but in 1.33. I do find Amfleet, and 
in John Smith's edition (Cambridge, 1722) as a note to Amj-leor, 
he says, " Vulgo Amblcteau or Amblctcuse, about 2 miles north of 
Boulogne " 



4 The River of Wells. 

the Latin flevus, called by Ptolemy fleus, and by Mela 
jietio. Again, in Brittany many names end in pleu^ or 
plouj which seems to be very much like the Greek TrXew : 
/«//, swollen^ which corresponds to our Anglo-Saxon 
Flede; Dutch Vliet. 

But it has another, and a very pretty name, " The 
River of Wells," from the number of small tribu- 
taries that helped to swell its stream, and from the wells 
which bordered its course ; such as Sadler's Wells, 
Bagnigge Wells, White Conduit, Coldbath, Lamb's 
Conduit, Clerkenwell — all of which (although all were 
not known by those names in Stow's times) were in 
existence. 

Stow, in his "Survey of London" (ed. 1603, 
his last edition, and which consequently has his best 
corrections), says — 

" Riuer of That the riuer of Wels in the west parte 
Wcls. of the Citty, was of olde so called of the 

Wels, it may be proued thus, William the 
Conqueror in his Charter to the CoUedge of 
S. Marten le Grand in London, hath these 
wordes : I doe giue and graunt to the same 
Church all the land and the Moore, without 
the Posterne, which Is called Cripplegate, on 
eyther part of the Postern, that is to say, 
from the North corner of the Wall, as the 
riuer of the Wels, there neare running, de- 
parteth the same More from the Wall, vnto 
the running water which entereth the Cittie ; 
this water hath beene long since called the 



The Fleet Choked Up. 5 

riuer of the Wels, which name of riuer 

continued, and it was so called in the raigne 

of Edward the first ; as shall bee shewed, with 

also the decay of the saide riuer. In a fayre 

Booke of Parliament recordes, now lately 

restored to the Tower, ^ it appeareth that a j^g^ayofthe 

Parliament being holden at Carlile in the Riuer of the 

yeare 1307, the 2S ^^ Edward the I. Henry ^'^^•'• 

Lacy Earle of Lincolne, complayned that 

whereas, in times past the course of water, parliament 

running at London vnder Olde bourne bridge, Record. 

and Fleete bridge into the Thames, had beene 

of such bredth and depth, that 10 or 12 ^^.^^^ ^r 

ships, Nauies at once with marchadises, were JVels bare 

wot to come to the foresaid bridge of Fleete, ^^"P^- 

and some of them to Oldborne bridge : now 

the same course by filth of the Tanners & 

such others, was sore decaied ; also by raising 

of wharfes, but specially by a diversio of the 

waters made by them of the new Tetnplcj for 

their milles standing without Baynardes Castle^ 

in the first yeare of King John^ and diuers p^^g^t 

other impediments, so as the said ships could Record, 

not enter as they were wont, & as they -^'^-^ '^y 

ought, wherefore he desired that the Maior of ^^^^^^ ^^jg 

London, with the shiriffs, and other discrete /« the first of 

Aldermen, might be appointed to view the ^''^•^ ^''^'"• 

course of the saide water, and that by the othes 

' The Records were kept in the Tower, and at the Rolls Office, 
in a very neglected state, until they were removed to the present 
Record Office in Fetter Lane. 



6 Cleansing the Fleet. 

of good men, all the aforesaide hinderances 
might be remoued, and it to bee made as it 
was wont of old : wherupon Roger le Bra- 
haxon^ the Constable of the Tower, with the 
Maior and Shiriffes, were assigned to take 
with them honest and discrete men, and to 
make diligent search and enquirie, how the 
said riuer was in old time, and that they leaue 
nothing that may hurt or stop it, but keepe it 
in the same estate that it was wont to be. So 
far the record, Wherupon it folowed that 
the said riuer was at that time cleansed, these 
mils remoued, and other things done for the 
preseruation of the course thereof, not with- 
standing neuer brought to the olde depth and 
breadth, whereupon the name of riuer ceased, 
Turnemill ^^^ was sincc Called a Brooke, namely Turn- 
Brooke. mill or Tremill Brooke, for that diuers Mils 
were erected vpon it, as appeareth by a fayre 
Register booke, conteyning the foundation of 
the Priorie at Clarkenwell, and donation of 
the landes thereunto belonging, as also by 
diuers other records. 

" This brooke hath beene diuers times since 
clensed, namely, and last of all to any effect, 
in the yeare 1502 the j 7th of Henrie the 7. 
the whole course of Fleete dike, then so 
called, was scowred (I say) downe to the 
Thames, so that boats with fish and fewel 
were rowed to Fleete bridge, and to Oldburne 
bridge, as they of olde time had beene accus- 



The Fleet Navigable. 7 

tomed, which was a great commoditie to all 
the inhabitants in that part of the Citie. 

" In the yeare 1589, was granted a fifteene, 
by a common Councell of the citie, for the 
cleansing of this Brooke or dike: the money f/^^^^^,^^ 
amounting to a thousand marks collected, and promised to 
it was undertaken, that, by drawing diuerse bedensed; 
springes about Hampsted heath, into one head collected and 
and Course, both the citie should be serued of t/ie citizens 
fresh water in all places of want, and also that '^^"^^^'■^• 
by such a follower, as men call it, the channell 
of this brooke should be scowred into the 
riuer of Thames ; but much mony being 
therein spent, y^ effect fayled, so that the 
Brooke by meanes of continuall incrochments 
vpon the banks getting ouer the water, and 
casting of soylage into the streame, is now 
become woorse cloyed and that euer it was 
before." 

From this account of Stow's we find that the stream 
of the Fleet, although at one time navigable, had ceased 
to be so in his time, but we see, by the frontispiece, 
which is taken from a painting (in the Guildhall Art 
Gallery) by Samuel Scot, 1770 (?) that the mouth of 
the Fleet river, or ditch, call it which you like, was 
still, not only navigable, but a place of great resort for 
light craft. 

The name '^ River of Wells " is easily to be under- 
stood, if we draw again upon Stow, who, in treating of 
" Auncient and present Riuers, Brookes, Boorns, Pooles, 



8 Wells. 

Wels, and Conduits of fresh water serulng the Citie," 
&c., says — 

"Aunciently, vntill the Conquerors time, and 200 
yeres after, the Citie of London was watered besides 
the famous Riuer of Thames on the South part ; with 
the riuer of the wels, as it was then called, on the 
west; with water called Walbrooke running through 
the midst of the citie into the riuer of Thames, seruing 
the heart thereof, x'^nd with a fourth water or Boorne, 
which ran within the Citie throucrh Langboorne ward, 
watering that part in the East. In the west suburbs 
was also another great water, called Oldborne, which 
had his fall into the riuer of Wels : then was there 3 
principall Fountaines or wels in the other Suburbs, to 
wit, Holy Well, Clements Well, and Clarices Well. 
Neare vnto this last named fountaine were diuers other 
wels, to wit. Skinners Wei, Fags Wei, Loders Wei, 
and Rad Well ; All which sayde Wels, hauing the fall of 
their ouerflowing in the foresayde Riuer, much encreased 
the streame, and in that place gaue it the name of Wei. 
In west Smithfield, there was a Poole in Recordes called 
HoRSEPooLE, and one other Poole neare vnto the parish 
Church of Saint Giles without Cripplegate. Besides 
all which they had in euerie streete and Lane of the citie 
diuerse fayre Welles and fresh Springs ; and, after this 
manner was this citie then serued with sweete and fresh 
waters, which being since decaid, other means haue 
beene sought to supplie the want." 

Here, then, we have a Hst of Wells, which are, to- 



Wells. 9 

gether with those I have already mentioned, quite suffi- 
cient to account for the prettier name of the " River of 
Wells," Of these wells Stow writes in his deliciously- 
quaint phraseology : — 

*' There are (saith Fitzstephen) neare 
London, on the North side special wels in the Fitzstep/ien. 
Suburbs, sweete, wholesome, and cleare, -^"-^ ^^ • 
amongst which Holy welly Clarices wel, and 
Clements wel are most famous, and fre- 
quented by Scholers, and youthes of the Cittie 
in sommer evenings, when they walke forthe 
to take the aire. 

" The first, to wit. Holy well, is much de- 
cayed, and marred with filthinesse laide there, 
for the heightening of the ground for garden 
plots. 

" The fountaine called S. Clements well, elements 
North from the Parish Church of S. Clements, ■'''■'■'^^^• 
and neare vnto an Inne of Chancerie^ .called 
Clements Inne, is faire curbed square with hard 
stone, kept cleane for common vse, and is 
alwayes full. 

" The third is called Clarkes well, or Clark- Clarks njuell. 
enwell,^ and is curbed about square with hard 
stone, not farre from the west ende of Clark- 
enwell Church, but close without the wall 
that incloseth it ; the sayd Church tooke 
the name of the Well, and the Well tooke the 
name of the Parish Clarkes in London, who 

' This is the only one left whose position is a matter of certainty.. 



lo Wells. 

of old time were accustomed there yearely to 
Playes byt/!e assemble, and to play some large hystorie 
Ifciarh''' ""^ holy Scripture. And, for example, of 
^ell. later time, to wit, in the yeare 1390, the 14 

of Richard the Second, I read the Parish Clarks 
of London, on the 1 8 of July, playd Enter- 
Players at ludes at Skinners well^ neare vnto Clarkes well, 
^ell ^""^'^^ which play continued three dayes togither, the 
King, Oueene, and Nobles being present. Also 
the yeare 1409, the 10 of Henrie the 4. they 
played a play at the Skinners well, which lasted 
eight dayes, and was of matter from the 
creation of the worlde. There were to see 
the same, the most part of the Nobles and 
Gentiles in England, &c. 
Skinners " Other Smaller welles were many neare vnto 

'^^^^- Clarkes well, namely Skinners well, so called 

for that the Skinners of London held there 
certaine playes yearely playd of holy Scripture, 
fVrestltng- &c. In place whereof the wrestlings haue 
^ ^'^^' of later yeares becne kept, and is in part con- 

tinued at Bartholo7new tide. 
Fagges^ell. " Then was there Fagges well, neare vnto 
Smithfield by the Charterhouse, now lately 
dammed vp, Tod well, Loders well, and Rad 
well, all decayed, and so filled vp, that there 
places are hardly now discerned. 

" Somewhat North from Holy well is one 
other well curbed square with stone, and is 
called Dame Annis the Cleare, and not farre 
from it, but somewhat west, is also one other 



Ponds and Pools. ii 

cleare water called Perillous pond^^ because 
diuerse youthes by swimming therein haue 
beene drowned; and thus much bee said for 
Fountaines and Wels. 

" Horse poole in JVestsmithfield^ was some- 
time a great water, and because the inhabitants 
in that part of the Citie did there water their 
Horses, the same was, in olde Recordes, called 
Horspoole, it is now much decayed, the springs 
being stopped vp, and the land waters falling 
into the small bottome, remayning inclosed, 
with Bricke, is called Smit/ifield pond. 

" By S. Giles Churchyard was a large water, 
called a Poole. I read in the year 1 244 that PooU ^without 
Anne of Lodburie was drowned therein ; Cripplegate. 
this poole is now for the most part stopped 
vp, but the spring is preserued, and was 
cooped about with stone by the Executors of 
Richard IVittington . ' ' 

* Afterwards known as " Peerless Pool," an unmeaning cog- 
nomen. 







i 




CHAPTER II. 



LONDON, for its size, was indeed very well supplied 
with water, although, of course, it was not laid on 
to every house, as now, but, with the exception of 
those houses provided with wells, it had to be fetched 
from fixed public places, which were fairly numerous. 
When the waters of the Fleet, and Wallbrook, in the pro- 
cess of time, became contaminated, Henry III., in the 
2 1 St year of his reign (12,36), granted to the Citizens of 
London the privilege of conveying the waters of the 
Tye-bourne through leaden pipes to the City, " for the 
poore to drinke, and the rich to dresse their meate." 
And it is only a few years since, that close by what is 
now called " Sedley Place," Oxford Street, but which 
used to be the old hunting lodge of bygone Lord 
Mayors, some of these very pipes were unearthed, a 
fine cistern being uncovered at the same time. 

For public use there were the great Conduit in West 



14 Water Supply of London. 

Cheape : the Tonne or Tun in Cornhill, fountains at 
Billingsgate, at Paul's Wharf, and St. Giles', Cripplegate, 
and conduits at Aldermanbury, the Standard in Fleet 
Street, Gracechurch Street, Holborn Cross (afterwards 
Lamb's Conduit), at the Stocks Market (where the 
Mansion House now stands), Bishopsgate, London 
Wall, Aldgate, Lothbury — and this without reckoning 
the supply furnished from the Thames by the enter- 
prising German, or Dutchman, Pieter Moritz, who in 
1582 started the famous waterworks close to where 
Fishmongers' Hall now stands. 

The Fleet river (I prefer that title to the other cog- 
nomen, " Ditch "), flowing through London, naturally 
became somewhat befouled, and in Henry the VII. 's 
time, circa 1502, it was cleansed, so that, as aforesaid, 
" boats with fish and fewel were rowed to Fleete bridge, 
and to Oldburne bridge." We also know, as Stow 
records, that more springs were introduced into the 
stream from Hampstead, without effect, either as to 
deepening or purifying the river, which had an evil 
reputation even in the time of Edward I., as we see in 
Ryley's '' Placita Parhamentaria " (ed. t66i), p. 340 — 

^^Ad peticionem Com. Lincoln, querentis quod cum cur- 
sus aque, que currit apud London sub Ponte de Holeburn^ 
& Ponte de Fleete usque in Thamisiam solebat ita largus 
& latus esse, ac profundus, quod decem Naves vel 
duodecim ad predictum Pontem de Fleete cum diversis 
rebus & mercandisis solebant venire, & quedam illarum 
Navium sub illo Ponte transire, usque ad predictum 
Pontem de Holeburn ad predictum cursum mundanmum 



The Fleet to be Cleansed. 15 

& simos exinde cariand, nunc ille cursus per fordes & 
inundaciones Taunatorum & p varias perturbaciones in 
predicta aqua, factas & maxime per exaltationem Caye 
& diversionem aque quam ipsi de Novo Temple fecerunt 
ad Molendina sua extra Castra Baignardy quod Naves 
predicte minime intrare possunt sicut solebant, & facere 
debeant &c unde supplicat quod Maior de London 
assumptis secum Vice com, & discretionbus Aldermannis 
cursum predce aque videat, & quod per visum & sacrm 
proborum & legalium hominum faciat omnia nocumenta 
predicte aque que invinerit ammovere & reparare cursum 
predictum, & ipsum in tali statu manutenere in quo 
antiquitus esse solebat &c. Ita responsum est, Assignen- 
tur Rogerus le Brabazon &' Constabularius Turris, London 
Maior & Fice Com. London, quod ipsi assumptit secum 
discretionihus Aldermannis London, i^c, inquirant per 
sacramentum ^c, qualiter fieri consuevit &' qualis cursus. 
Et necumenta que invenerint ammoveant &' manueri faciant 
in eadem statu quo antiquitus esse solebat.'" 

Latin for which a modern schoolboy would get 
soundly rated, or birched, but which tells us that even as 
far back as Edward I. the Fleet river was a nuisance ; 
and as the endorsement (Patent Roll 2,^ Edward L) 
shows — " De cursu aqua2 de Fleta supervivendo et 
corrigendo,'' i.e., that the Fleet river should be looked 
after and amended. But the Commission issued to 
perfect this work was discontinued, owing to the death 
of the king. (Patent Roll i Edward II., pars i. m. 
dorso.) " De Cursu Aquas Flete, &c., reducend et 
impedimenta removend." 



i6 Smell of the River. 

And Prynne, in his edition of Cotton's "Records" 
(ed. 1669, P- ^^^)} ^sks " whether such a commission 
and inquiry to make this river navigable to Holborn 
Bridge or Clerkenwell, would not now be seasonable, and 
a work worthy to be undertaken for the public benefit, 
trade, and health of the City and Suburbs, I humbly 
submit to the wisdom and judgment of those whom 
it most Concerns." 

So that it would appear, although otherwise stated, 
that the Fleet was not navigable in May, 1669, the date 
of the publication of Prynne's book. 

As a matter of fact it got to be neither more nor less 
than an open sewer, to which the lines in Coleridge's 
"Table Talk" would well apply — 



" In Coin, that town of monks and bones, 
And pavements fang'd with murderous stones, 
And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches, 
I counted two-and-seventy stenches ; 
All well-defined and genuine stinks ! 
Ye nymphs, that reign o'er sewers and sinks, 
The river Rhine, it is well known. 
Doth wash the City of Cologne ; 
But, tell me, nymphs, what power divine 
Shall henceforth wash the River Rhine ? " 



The smell of the Fleet river was notorious ; so much 
so, that Farquhar, in his Sir Harry Wildair^ act ii., says, 
" Dicky ! Oh ! I was just dead of a Consumption, till 
the sweet smoke of Cheapside, and the dear perfume 
of Fleet Ditch made me a man again ! '' In Queen 
Anne's time, too, it bore an evil reputation : vide The 



Prehistoric London. 



17 



Tatler (No. 238, October 17, 1710) by Steele and 
Swift. I 

" Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow. 
And bear their trophies with them as they go : 
Filth of all hues and odours seem to tell 
What street they sail'd from, by their sight and smell. 
They, as each torrent drives, with rapid force, 
From Smithfield or St. Pulchre's shape their course. 
And in huge confluent join'd at Snow Hill ridge, 
Fall from the Conduit, prone to Holborn Bridge. 
Sweepings from butchers' stalls, dung, guts, and blood, 
Drown'd puppies, stinking sprats, all drench'd in mud. 
Dead cats and turnip-tops come tumbling down the flood." 

We get a glimpse of prehistoric London, and the 
valley of the Fleet, in Gough's '■^ British Topography," 
vol. i. p. 719 (ed. 1780). Speaking of John Conyers, 
" apothecary, one of the first Collectors of antiquities, 
especially those relating to London, when the City was 
rebuilding. . . . He inspected most of the gravel-pits 
near town for different sorts and shapes of stones. In 
one near the sign of Sir J. Oldcastle, about 1680, 
he discovered the skeleton of an elephant, which he 
supposed had lain there only since the time of the 
Romans, who, in the reign of Claudius, fought the 
Britons near this place, according to Selden's notes on 
the Polyolbion. In the same pit he found the head of 
a British spear of flint, afterwards in the hands of Dr. 
Charlett, and engraved in Bagford's letter." We, 
now-a-days, with our more accurate knowledge of 

^Journal to Stella, October 17, 17 10 — "This day came out 
The Tatler, made up wholly of my Shower, and a preface to it. 
They say it is the best thing I ever writ, and I think so too." 



l8 Antiquarian Discoveries. 

Geology and Palaeontology, would have ascribed a far 
higher ancestry to the "elephant." 

As a matter of course, a little river like the Fleet 
must have become the receptacle of many articles, which, 
once dropped in its waters, could not be recovered ; so 
that it is not surprising to read in the Mirror of 
March 22, 1834 (No. 6^2>i P- 180), an account of 
antiquarian discoveries therein, which, if not archaso- 
logically correct, is at least interesting, 

" In digging this Canal between Fleet Prison and 
Holborn Bridge, several Roman utensils were lately dis- 
covered at the depth of 1 5 feet ; and a little deeper, a 
great quantity of Roman Coins, in silver, brass, copper, 
and all other metals except gold. Those of silver were 
ring money, of several sizes, the largest about the 
bigness of a Crown, but gradually decreasing ; the 
smallest were about the size of a silver Twopence, each 
having a snip at the edge. And at Holborn Bridge 
were dug up two brazen lares, or household gods, about 
four inches in length, which were almost incrusted with 
a petrified matter : one of these was Bacchus, and the 
other Ceres ; but the coins lying at the bottom of the 
current, their lustre was in a great measure preserved, by 
the water incessantly washing off the oxydizing metal. 
Probably the great quantity of coin found in this ditch, 
was thrown in by the Roman inhabitants of this city 
for its preservation at the approach of Boadicsea at 
the head of her army : but the Roman Citizens, without 
distinction of age or sex, being barbarously murdered 
by the justly enraged Britons, it was not discovered till 
this time. 



Cleansing the Fleet. 19 

" Besides the above-mentioned antiquities, several 
articles of a more modern date were discovered, as 
arrow-heads, scales, seals with the proprietors' names 
upon them in Saxon characters ; spur rowels of a hand's 
breadth, keys and daggers, covered over with livid rust ; 
together with a considerable number of medals, with 
■crosses, crucifixes, and Ave Marias engraven thereon." 

A paper was read, on June 1 1, 1862, to the members 
of the British Archaeological Association, by Mr. 
Ganston, who exhibited various relics lately recovered 
from the bed of the river Fleet, but they were not even 
of archaeological importance — a few knives, the earliest 
dating from the fifteenth century, and a few knife 
handles. 

Previously, at a meeting of the same Society, on 
December 9, 1857, Mr. C. H. Luxmore exhibited a 
green glazed earthenware jug of the sixteenth century, 
found in the Fleet. 

And, before closing this antiquarian notice of the 
Fleet, I cannot but record some early mention of the 
river which occur in the archives of the Corporation of 
the City of London : — 

(17 Edward III., a.d. 1343, Letter-book F, fol. 
67.) " Be it remembered that at the Hustings of 
Common Pleas, holden on the Monday next before the 
Feast of Gregory the Pope, in the 17th year of the 
reign of King Edward, after the Conquest, the Third, 
Simon Traunceys, Mayor, the Aldermen and the Com- 
monalty, of the City of London, for the decency and 
cleanliness of the same city, granted upon lease to the 



20 Fouling the River. 

butchers in the Parish of St. Nicholas Shambles, in 
London, a piece of land in the lane called * Secollane ' 
(sea coal), neare to the water of Flete, for the purpose 
of there, in such water, cleansing the entrails of beasts. 
And upon such piece of land the butchers aforesaid were 
to repair a certain quay at their charges, and to keep 
the same in repair ; they paying yearly to the Mayor of 
London for the time being, at the Feast of our Lord's 
Nativity, one boar's head." ^ 

(31 Edward III., a.d. 1357, Letter-book G, fol. 
72.) "Also, it is ordered, that no man shall take, or 
cause to be carried, any manner of rubbish, earth, 
gravel, or dung, from out of his stables or elsewhere, to 
throw, and put the same into the rivers of Thames and 
Flete, or into the Fosses around the walls of the City : 
and as to the dung that is found in the streets and lanes, 
the same shall be carried and taken elsewhere out of the 
City by carts, as heretofore ; or else by the raykers - to 
certain spots, that the same may be put into the donge- 
botes,^ without throwing anything into the Thames ; for 
saving the body of the river, and preserving the quays, 
such as Dowegate, Quenhethe, and Castle Baynards, 
(and) elsewhere, for lading and unlading ; as also, 
for avoiding^ the filthiness that is increasing in the water, 
and upon the banks of the Thames, to the great abomi- 
nation and damage of the people. And, if any one 
shall be found doing the Contrary hereof, let him have 

^ "Memorials of London and London Life in the Thirteenth, 
Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries," by H. J. Riley, 1868, p. 214. 
^ The street sweepers. 3 Dung boats. 



Rivers Rising at Hampstead. 21 

the prison for his body, and other heavy punishment as 
well, at the discretion of the Mayor and of the Alder- 
men." I 

(7 Henry V. a.d. 141 9, Journal i, fol. 61.) 
** It is granted that the risshhotes - at the Flete and else- 
where in London shall be taken into the hands of the 
Chamberlain ; and the Chamberlain shall cause all the 
streets to be cleansed." 3 

The northern heights of London, the " ultima Thule" 
of men like Keats, and Shelley, abound in springs, 
which form the bases of several little streams, which are 
fed on their journey to their bourne, the Thames (to 
which they act as tributaries), by numerous little brook- 
lets and rivulets, which help to swell their volume. On 
the northern side of the ridge which runs from Hamp- 
stead to Highgate, birth is given to the Brent, which, 
springing from a pond in the grounds of Sir Spencer 
Wells, is pent up in a large reservoir at Hendon, and 

' See Riley, p. 299. 

^ This was probably because the rushes were spilt in the river. 
At that time the house-floors were strewn with rushes, which were 
brought to London in "Rush boats;" and an ordinance, temp. 
4 Henry V., provides that " all rushes in future, laden in boats or 
skiffs, and brought here for sale, should be sold by the cart-load, as 
from of old had been wont to be done. And that the same cart- 
loads were to be made up within the boats and skiffs in which the 
said rushes are brought to the City, and not upon the ground, or 
upon the wharves, walls, or embankments of the water of Thames, 
nearer adjacent to such boats or skiffs; under a heavy penalty upon 
the owner or owners of such boats, skiffs, and rushes, at the dis- 
cretion of the Mayor and Aldermen." 

3 See Riley, p. 675. 



22 



The Tye-bourne. 



finally debouches into the Thames at Brentford, where, 

from a little spring, which it is at starting, it becomes so 

far a " fleet " as to allow barges to go up some distance. 

On the southern side of the ridge rise the Tybourne, 



-'V 







shepherd's well, hampstead. 

and the Westbourne, The former had its rise in a 
spring called Shepherd's Well, in Shepherd's Fields, 
Hampstead, which formed part of the district now 
known as Belsize Park and Fitzjohn's Avenue, which 
is the finest road of private houses in London. Shep- 



The West-bourne. 23 

herd's Well is depicted in Hone's " Table Book," 
pp. 381, 2, and shows it as it was over fifty years since. 
Alas ! it is a thing of the past ; a railway tunnel drained 
the spring, and a mansion, now known as The Conduit 
Lodge, occupies its site. It meandered by Belsize 
House, through St. John's Wood, running into Regents 
Park, where St. Dunstan's now is, and, close to the 
Ornamental Water, it was joined by a little rivulet which 
sprang from where now, is the Zoological Gardens. It 
went across Marylebone Road, and, as nearly as possible, 
Marylebone Lane shows its course ; then down South 
Molton Street, passing Brook Street, and Conduit Street, 
by Mayfair, to Clarges Street, across Oxford Street and 
into a pond in the Green Park called the Ducking Pond, 
which was possibly used as a place of punishment for 
scolds, or may have been an ornamental pond for water- 
fowl. Thence it ran in front of Buckingham Palace, 
where it divided, which was the cause of its name. 
Twy, or Teo (double), and Bourne, Brook — one stream 
running into the Thames west of Millbank, doing duty 
by the way in turning the Abbey Mill (whence the name), 
and the other debouching east of Westminster Bridge, 
thus forming the Island of Thorns, or Thorney Isle, on 
which Edward the Confessor founded his abbey, and the 
City of Westminster. 

The Westbourne took its rise in a small pond near 
" Telegraph Hill," at Hampstead ; two or three brook- 
lets joined it, and it ran its course across the Finchley 
Road, to the bottom of Alexandra Road, Kilburn, where 
it was met by another stream, which had its source at 
Frognal, Hampstead. It then became the West bourne, 



24 



Course of the West-bourne. 



as being the most westerly of all the rivers near 
London, taking the Wallbrook, the Fleet, and the 
Tybourne. 

Its course may be traced down Kilburn Park Road, 
and Shirland Road. Crossing the Harrow Road where 
now is Westbourne Park Station, Eastbourne and 
Westhourne Terraces mark the respective banks, and, 
after crossing the Uxbridge Road, it runs into the 
Serpentine at the Engine House. Feeding that sheet of 
water, it comes out again at the Albert Gate end, runs 
by Lowndes Square, Cadogan Place, &c., and, finally, 
falls into the river at Chelsea Hospital. 



^^^^si^ 




CHAPTER III. 



THE Fleet, as far as can be ascertained, owes Its birth 
to an ornamental water, fed by springs — one ot the 
numerous ponds In Highgate and Hampstead — in 
the park of Ken Wood, the seat of Earl Mansfield, 
now occasionally occupied by the fourth successor to that 
title; who, being keeper of the royal Castle of Scone, 
prefers, as a rule, his northern residence. In the No 
Popery riots of 1780, with which Lord George Gordon 
was so intimately connected, Ken Wood House was on 
the brink of being destroyed by the rioters, who had, 
already, wrecked his lordship's house in Bloomsbury 
Square, and destroyed his most valuable library. 
Tradition says that Ken Wood was saved owing to the 
landlord of '^ The Spaniards," well known to all pedes- 
trian frequenters of Hampstead, giving them his beer, 
&c., until they were incapacitated, or unwilling, to fulfil 
their quest, meanwhile sending messengers for the 
Horse Guards, who opportunely arrived, and prevented 
the destruction of the mansion. It is quite possible 



26 Course of the Fleet. 

that this is a true story, for a footnote (p. 69) in 
Prickett's "History of Highgate " says: "The fol- 
lowing is copied from a receipt of one of the constables 
of the Hundred of Ossulston : ' Received 8s. 6d., being 
the proportion taxed and assessed for and towards the 
payment of the several taxations and assessments which 
have been made upon the said Parish (amounting to 
the sum of £iSj. i8s. yd.) towards an equal contri- 
bution, to be had and made for the relief of the 
several inhabitants of said Hundred ; against whom, 
the several persons who were damnified by rioters within 
the same Hundred, in the month of June, 1780, have 
obtained verdicts, and had their executions respec- 
tively.'" 

Commencing thus in one of the prettiest parts of the 
most picturesque suburbs of London, it flows from one 
to the other, right through the chain of the Highgate 
Ponds, fed by several rills, the first being near the 
Hampstead end of Millfield Lane — which is, by some, 
regarded as its source. From the lower pond ic crossed 
the Highgate Road, and, for some distance, it ran 
parallel with it, although a little way eastward. It 
again crossed the Highgate Road not far from its junc- 
tion with the Kentish Town Road, the course of which 
it followed, until it came to Hawley Road, where it was 
joined by a sister brook, whose source was the pond in 
the Vale of Health at Hampstead, flowing from which, 
it was fed by a brooklet, over which the abortive viaduct 
of Sir Thomas Marion Wilson's construction is carried. 
It ran into, and through, the Hampstead Ponds, which 
end at the lower east heath, near Pond Street (a locality 



The Hampstead Ponds. 27 

easily recognized when once any one has seen St. 
Stephen's Church, Haverstock Hill, one of the most 
beautiful churches in London). These ponds are im- 
mortal, if they needed immortality, as the very first 
page of " Pickwick " gives an entry in the Transactions 
of the Pickwick Club : 

'■^ May 12, 1827. Joseph Smiggers, Esq., P. V. P., 
M.P.C., presiding. The following resolutions unani- 
mously agreed to — ■ 

" * That this Association has heard read, with feelings 
of unmingled satisfaction, and unqualified approval, the 
paper communicated by Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C., 
M.P.C., entitled, "Speculations on the Source of the 
Hampstead Ponds, with some observations on the 
Theory of Tittlebats " ; and that this Association does 
hereby return its warmest thanks to the said Samuel 
Pickwick, Esq., G.C., M.P.C., for the same.' " 

Its memory is still retained in the Fleet Road. 

On its way through Kentish Town it passed through 
a purely pastoral country, such as we, who know the 
district only as covered with houses, can hardly reconcile 
with existing circumstances. The Guildhall Collection 
relating to the Fleet River, is very rich in water-colour 
drawings and pen-and-ink sketches of undoubted 
authenticity, and from them I have selected what, in 
my opinion, are the most suitable for this work.^ 

From the above, and this view of Elighgate, so late 
back as 1845, ^^ ^^^ fairly judge of the pleasant 
' See pages 28, 29, 30, 31, &c. 



28 



Rural Fleet. 



scenery which existed almost at our doors — before the 
iron roads brought population, which begat houses, 
which destroyed all rusticity, leaving bricks and mortar 
on the site of verdant meads, and millions of chimneys 
vomiting unconsumed carbon and sulphur, in the place 
of the pure fresh air which once was dominant. 




THE FLEET, KENTISH TOWN. Cuxa 1S37. 



Here we see the Fleet running its quiet course — and 
the other sketches bear witness to its rurality. 

After the Fleet had recrossed the Highgate Road 
near the junction of that road and the Kentish Town 



Gospel Oak. 



29 



Road, it passed near the Gospel Oak^ which now gives 
its name to a railway station in the locality. About 
this oak, there was a tradition that it was so called 
because St. Augustine preached underneath its boughs — 
a fact which is probably as correct as the story that the 




VIEW or THE VALLEY OF THE FLEET AND HIGHGATE CHURCH, 

FROM FORTESS TERRACE, KENTISH TOWN, SEPT. 28, 1845. 

[Water colour by A . Crosby.) 

Church of St. Pancras was the first Christian Church in 
England. In truth, there are, or were, many Gospel 
Oaks and Elms throughout the country ; for instance, 
there is an iron foundry near the parishes of Tipton 



30 



Gospel Oak. 



and Wednesbury called Gospel Oak JFcrks. It was, as 
a matter of fact, a traditionary custom, in many places, 
when, on Holy Thursday (Ascension Day), the parochial 
bounds were beaten, to read a portion of the Gospels 




THE FLEET AT KENTISH TOWN. 



under some well-known tree, and hence its name. One 
or two quotations will easily prove this. 

In- the "Bury Wills," p. ii8, is the following passage 
in the will of John Cole of Thelnetham, dated May 8, 



Parliament Hill. 



31 



1527 : ^'^ Item, I will haue a newe crosse made according 
to Trappett's crosse at the Hawe lanes ende, and set vp 
at Short Grove's end, where the gospell is sayd vpon 
x\scension Even, for y^ w"^ T assigne x^" 

And, in the poem of Herrick's *' Hesperides," which 
is addressed '* To Anthea." 

" Dearest, bury me 
Under that holy Oke, or Gospel Tree ; 
Where, (though thou see'st not,) thou may'st think upon 
Me, when thou yerely go'st procession," 

It also passed near Parliament, or Traitors', Hill — a 
name which is much in dispute ; some maintaining that 




THE FLEET M" KENTISH TOWN, 



it was fortified by the Parliamentary Army, under 
Cromwell, for the protection of London, others that 
the 5th of November conspirators met here to view the 
expected explosion of the Houses of Parliament. This, 
which forms the most southern part of Hampstead 
Heath, and therefore the nearest, and most accessible to 
the great bulk of Londoners, has a beautiful view of 
Highgate and London, and has, I am happy to say, 
been preserved as an open space for the public. 

We have now followed the Fleet in its course to 
Kentish Town, the etymon of which is, to say the least. 



32 Kentish Town. 

somewhat hazy. Being so, of course, an immense 
amount of theory has been expended upon it. Some 
contend that it springs from the Prebendary attached 
to St. Paul's Cathedral, of Cantelupe, or Cantelows, 
now (in Crockford^ called Cantlers) : one antiquary 
suggesting that it owes its name to the delta formed 
by the junction of the two branches of the Fleet — from 
Cant or Cantle^ a corner; — whilst yet another authority 
thinks that, as the Fleet had its source from Ken Wood 
— it was called Ken-ditch — hence Kenditch or Kentish 
Town. Be it as it may, it was a very pleasant and 
rural suburb, and one of some note, for herein William 
Bruges, Garter King-at-Arms, had a country house, at 
which he entertained, in the year 141 6, the Emperor 
Sigismund, who came over here, in that year, to try and 
mediate between our Henry V. and the King of France. 

In still older times it formed part of the great 
Middlesex forest, which was full of wolves, wild boars, 
deer, and wild oxen; but we find that, in 1252, Henry 
III, granted to Thomas Ive, permission to inclose a 
portion of the highway adjoining his mansion at 
Kentessetone. And in 1357, John of Oxford, who 
was Mayor of London in 1341, gave, amongst other 
things, to the Priory of the Holy Trinity, in London, 
a mill at Kentish Town — which, of course, must have 
been turned by the Fleet. The kind donor was one 
of the very few Mayors who died during his mayoralty. 

It is said, too, that Nell Gwynne had a house in 
Kentish Town, but I can find not the slightest con- 
firmation of the rumour ; still, as there is a very good 
pen-and-ink sketch of the old house said to be hers. 



Kentish Town. 



33 



I give it, as it helps to prove the antiquity of Kentish 
Town, now, alas ! only too modern. 




"-■^^i^f. 



34 



Brown's Dairy. 



And there was another old house close by the Fleet 
there, an old farmhouse known as Brown's dairy. 




This old Farmhouse had, evidently, a nobler origin, 
for it was moated; and, in 1838, the moat existed on 



Castle Inn. 



3S 



the east and north sides. It belonged to the College 
of Christ Church, Oxford, and was held of the Manor 
of Cantelows at a small fine. There was a good 
orchard, which at the above date (the time of its 
demolition) contained a large walnut tree and some 
mulberry trees. The building materials were sold for 
£6oy so that it evidently had done its work, and passed 
away in the ripeness of old age. 

The Castle Inn is said to have been the oldest house 




CASTLE, KENTISH TOWN ROAD, 1 848. 

in Kentish Town, and there is a tradition that Lord 
Nelson once lived here, " in order that he might keep 
his eye upon the Fleet," and planted a sycamore in the 
garden. 

Before taking leave of Kentish Town, I cannot help 
recording a legal squabble, which resulted in a victory 
for the public. — Times, February 12, 1841 : — 

'^ Court of Queen's Bench, Thursday, February 
II, 1 841. (Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Westminster, before 
Lord Denman and a special jury.) 



36 St. Pancras Wells. 

"The Queen v. Tube, 

"This was an Indictment against the Defendant for 
obstructing a footpath leading from Pond Lane, at 
Hampstead, over Traitors' and Parliament Hill, to 
Highgate. 

" The case lasted the whole day. 

" The jury brought a verdict for the Crown, thus 
establishing the right of the Public to one of the most 
beautiful walks in the neighbourhood of the metro- 
polis." 

The Fleet babbled through the meadows, until its 
junction with that other stream which flowed from the 
pond in the Vale of Health at Hampstead, which 
took place where now is Hawley Street, and the united 
brook, or river, ran across what are now the Kentish, 
and Camden, Town Roads, and between Great College 
Street, and King Street ; it then followed the course of 
the present road to King's Cross, passing by St. Pancras 
Church — which, originally, was of great antiquity, and 
close by which was a celebrated healing well, known 
as Pancras' Wells. These waters cured everything — 
scurvy, king's evil, leprosy, cancers, ulcers, rheumatism, 
disorders of the eyes, and pains of the stomach and 
bowels, colds, worms, &c., &c. 

In the Church, and Churchyard, were Interred many 
illustrious dead, especially Roman Catholics, who seem 
to have taken a particular fancy to have their remains 
buried there, probably on account of the tradition that 
this was the last church in which mass was celebrated. 
It was a favourite burial-place of the French clergy — 



Burials at St. Pancras. 



37 



and a story is told (how true I know not) that, down to 
the French Revolution, masses were celebrated in a 
church in the south of France, dedicated to St. Pancras, 
for the souls of the faithful interred here. 

Many historical names are here preserved — amongst 
whom are Pasco de Paoli, the famous Corsican ; 
Walker, whose dictionary is still a text book; the 
Chevalier d'Eon, respecting whose sex there was once 
such a controversy ; Count O'Rourke, famous in the 








THE BRILL. 



world of fashion in 1785 ; Mrs. Godwin — better 
known, perhaps, as Mary Woolstencraft — who also 
was married here ; William Woollett, the eminent 
landscape engraver, a branch of art in which he may 
be said to have been the father ; Samuel Cooper, 
whose miniatures cannot be surpassed; Scheemaker the 
younger, a sculptor of no small note. Nor in this 
campo santo was Music unrepresented, for there, amongst 



38 The Brill. 

others, lie the bodies of Mazzinghi, who brought the 
vioHn into fashion here in 1740; and Beard, a celebrated 
singer in 1753. The river flows hence to Battle Bridge, 
or King's Cross, as it is now termed, forming in its way 
a sort of pond called " Pancras Wash," and running 
through a low-lying district called "The Brill." ^ This 
peculiarly unsavoury neighbourhood has now been 
cleared away, in order to afford siding room, &c., for 
the Midland Railway. 

But Dr. Stukeley, who certainly had Roman Camps 
on the brain, discovered one in the Brill. He planned 
it out beautifully. Here were the Equites posted, there 
the Hastati, and there were the Auxiliarii. He made 
the Fleet do duty for a moat which nearly surrounded 
Cassar's Prastorium, and he placed a Forum close by St. 
Pancras' Church, to the northward of which he assigned 
a Prastorium to Prince Mandubrace. Is it not true ? 
for is it not all written in his " Itinerary " ? and does he 
not devote the first seventeen pages of the second 
volume of that work, entirely to the Brill, assuring us 
of the great pleasure he received in striding over the 
ground — following, in imagination, the footsteps of the 
Roman Camp Master, who paced out the dimensions 
of the Camp.'' 

^ See previous page. 





CHAPTER IV. 



THAT it was countrified about this part of Lon- 
don, is shown by the accompanying Copy of an 
engraving, by J. T. Smith, of a view " near 
Battle Bridge." i 

The etymology of Battle Bridge, which consists of 
only one arch, and now forms a part of the Fleet 
Sewer, is a much vexed question. At one time it was 
an article of faith, not to be impugned, that here, 
A.D. 6 1, was fought the famous battle between the 
Romans, under Suetonius Paulinus, and the Britons, 
under Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, which ended so 
disastrously for the natives — eighty thousand of whom 
are said to have been killed. But there seems to be a 
doubt, as to whether this was the exact spot where this 
historical contest took place, for Tacitus makes no 
mention of the little river Fleet, which must then have 
been navigable for light and small craft, for an anchor 
was found, in its bed, at Kentish Town. He only 
describes it (Tacit. Ann. lib. xiv. c. 34) a spot of 

^ Sec next page. 



40 



Battle Bridge. 



ground, " narrow at the entrance, and sheltered in the 
rear by a thick forest." No remains have ever been 
exhumed, nor have Roman, or British, relics been found 
near the spot. 

In the first quarter of this century the Fleet, for the 
greater part of its time, ran placidly along, as we see by 
these two pen-and-ink sketches, taken at Battle Bridge, i 




BATTLE BKIDtiE. 



But, occasionally, it forgot its good manners, and over- 
flowed its banks, flooding portions of Kentish Town, 
Somers Town, and Battle Bridge, as we read in the 
Gentlemaris Magazine ^ vol. Ixxxviii. part i. p. 462, 
Saturday, May 9, 1 8 1 8 : — 

'' From the heavy rain, which commenced yesterday 

' See pages 41, 42. 



Battle Bridge. 



41 



afternoon at six o'clock, and continued pouring inces- 
santly till four this morning, Battle Bridge, St. Pancras, 
and part of Somers Town were inundated. The water 
was several feet deep in many of the houses, and covered 
an extent of upwards of a mile. The carcases of several 
sheep and goats were found near Hampstead Reservoir, 
and property was damaged to a very considerable 
amount." 




BATTLE BRIDGE. 



There must have been a Mill here, for Stow tells us 
that in the reign of Edward VI. ** A Miller of Battaile 
Bridge was set on the Pillory In Cheape, and had both 
his eares cut off, for seditious words by him spoken 
against the Duke of Somerset." 

Here, as elsewhere, just outside London, the road was 
not too safe for travellers, as the following account of a 
highway robbery will show. It was committed by one 
John Everett, whose career in life had been rather 
chequered. As an apprentice he ran away, and enlisted 



King's Cross. 43 

in Flanders, rising to the rank of sergeant. When the 
troops returned, he purchased his discharge, and got a 
situation in the Whitechapel Debtors' Court, but had to 
leave it, and he became a companion of thieves, against 
whom he turned king's evidence. He got into debt, 
and was locked up in the Fleet Prison, but was allowed 
to reside within the Rules, a district round about the 
prison, out of which no prisoner might wander ; and 
there, in the Old Bailey, he kept a public-house. But 
he could not keep away from evil doing, and was sent 
to Newgate. On the expiration of his sentence, he 
turned highwayman. In the course of his professional 
career he, on December 24, 1730, stopped a Coach at 
Battle Bridge, which coach contained two ladies, a child, 
and a maidservant, and he despoiled them, but not 
uncivilly. The husband of one of the ladies coming up, 
pursued him, and next day he was caught. It v/as 
not then, any more than it is now, that every rogue got 
his deserts, but this one did, for he was hanged at 
Tyburn, February 20, 1731. 

The name of " Battle Bridge " is well-nigh forgotten, 
and " King's Cross " reigns in its stead. Yet how few 
Londoners of the present generation know whence the 
name is derived ! If they ever trouble their heads about 
it at all, they probably imagine that it was a cross, like 
the Eleanor Crosses, raised to the memory of some king. 

And what king, think you, was it intended to keep in 
perpetual remembrance .'' None other than his Most 
Gracious Majesty King George the Fourth, of pious 
memory. Why this monument was raised I have never 
been able to learn, unless it was to celebrate his death. 



44 King's Cross. 

which took place in 1830, and probably to hold up his 
many virtues, as bright exemplars, to ages yet unborn ; 
but a mad fit came over the inhabitants of Battle Bridge, 
and the hideous structure arose. It was all shoddy ; in 
the form of an octagon building ornamented with 
pilasters, all substantially built of brick, and covered 
over with compo or cement, in order to render it more 
enduring. It was used as a police-station, and after- 
wards as a public-house, whilst the pediment of the 
statue was utilized as a camera obscura. I don't think 
they knew exactly what they were about, for one party 
wanted it to be called Boadicea's Cross, another went in 
for it being nationally named St. George's Cross ; but 
the goodness of the late king was more popular, and 
carried the day, and we now enjoy the nominis umbra 
of King's Cross, instead of the old cognomen of Battle 
Bridge. It had a very brief existence. It was built 
between 1830 and 1835, and was demolished in 1845 » 
the stucco statue only having been in situ for ten years. 
It is said that the nose of this regal statue had, for its 
base, an earthen draining tile, and that it was offered to 
a gentleman for sixpence ! 

There hardly seems to be any connection between 
" the first gentleman in Europe ' and dustmen, but 
there is a slight link. Battle Bridge was peculiarly the 
home of the necessary dustman, and in a song called 
" The Literary Dustman," commencing — 

" They call me Adam Bell, 'tis clear 
That Adam vos the fust man, 
And by a co-in-side-ance queer 
Vy I'm the fust of dustmen," 



The Dust Heap. 



45 



Is the following verse : — 



" Great sculptors all conwarse \vi' mc, 
And call my taste divine, sirs, 
King George's statty at King's Cross, 
Vos built from my design, sirs." 

Close by here, in Gray's Inn Road, was a mountain 
of refuse and dust ; but it was as profitable as were the 
heaps of Mr. Boffin in Charles Dickens's " Our Mutual 
Friend." This mound once had a curious clearance, so 







DUST HEAP AT BATTLE BRIDGE. 



it is said. It was bought in its entirety, and sent over 
to Russia, to help make bricks to rebuild Moscow ; and 
the ground on which it stood v^as, in 1826,'^sold to a 
Company for £^ 1 5,000. 

" My dawning Genus fust did peep, 
Near Battle Bridge, 'tis plain, sirs: 
You recollect the cinder heap, 
Vot stood in Gray's Inn Lane, sirs ? " 

Let us turn to a sweeter subject, and gossip about 
St. Chad's Well, the site of which is now occupied by 



46 St. Chad's Well. 

the Metropolitan Railway at King's Cross. St. Chad is 
a saint in the English calendar, and might have been a 
distinguished temperance leader, if the number of wells 
dedicated to him, is any criterion. He lived in the 
seventh century, and was educated at Lindisfarne (at 
least so Bede says), and afterwards became Bishop of 
Lichfield, and, at his death, his soul is said to have been 
accompanied to heaven by angels and sweet music. 

A good modern account is given in Hone's *' Every 
Day Book," vol. i. pp. 323, 4, 5, which, as it was taken 
from actual observation about fifty years since, may well 
be transcribed. Speaking of the aforesaid dust-heap he 
says : — 

" Opposite to this unsightly site, and on the right 
hand side of the road, is an anglewise faded inscription — 



St. 
Chad's Well. 



" It stands, or rather dejects, over an elderly pair of 
wooden gates, one whereof opens on a scene which the 
unaccustomed eye may take for the pleasure-ground of 
Giant Despair. Trees stand as if made not to vegetate, 
clipped hedges seem unwilling to decline, and nameless 
weeds straggle weakly upon unlimited borders. If you 
look upwards you perceive, painted on an octagon 
board, ' Health restored and preserved.' Further on. 



St. Chad's Well. 47 

towards the left, stands a low, old-fashioned, comfort- 
able-looking, large-windowed dwelling, and, ten to one, 
but there also stands at the open door, an ancient ailing 
female, in a black bonnet, a clean, coloured cotton gown, 
and a check apron, her silver hair only in part tucked 
beneath the narrow border of a frilled cap, with a sedate 
and patient, yet somewhat inquiring look. She gra- 
tuitously tells you that ^ the gardens ' of ^ St. Chad's 
Well ' are for ' Circulation ' by paying for the waters, of 
which you may drink as much, or as little, or nothing, 
as you please, at one guinea per year, 9s. 6d. quarterly, 
4s. 6d. monthly, or is. 6d, weekly. You qualify for a 
single visit by paying sixpence, and a Targe glass tumbler, 
full of warm water, is handed to you. As a stranger, 
you are told, that ' St. Chad's Well was famous at one 
time.' 

"Should you be inquisitive, the dame will instruct you, 
with an earnest eye, that * people are not what they 
were,' ' things are not as they used to be,' and she 
'can't tell what'll happen next.' Oracles have not 
ceased. While drinking St. Chad's water, you observe 
an immense copper, into which it is poured, wherein it is 
heated to due efficacy, and from whence it is drawn by 
a cock, into glasses. You also remark, hanging on the 
wall, a * tribute of gratitude,' versified, and inscribed on 
vellum, beneath a pane of glass stained by the hand of 
time, and let into a black frame. This is an effusion 
for value received from St. Chad's invaluable water. 
But, above all, there is a full-sized portrait in oil, 
of a stout, comely personage, with a ruddy counte- 
nance, in a coat or cloak, supposed scarlet, a laced 



48 St. Chad's Well. 

cravat falling down the breast, and a small red nightcap 
carelessly placed on the head, conveying the idea that it 
was painted for the likeness of some opulent butcher, 
who flourished in the reign of Queen Anne. Ask the 
dame about it, and she refers you to ' Rhone.' i This 
is a tall old man, who would be taller if he were not 
bent by years. ' 1 am ninety-four,' he will tell you, 
* this present year of our Lord, one thousand, eight 
hundred, and twenty-five,' All that he has to commu- 
nicate concerning the portrait is, ' I have heard say it is 
the portrait of St. Chad.' Should you venture to differ, 
he adds, ' this is the opinion of most people who come 
here.' You may gather that it is his own undoubted 
belief. 

" On pacing the garden alleys, and peeping at the 
places of retirement, you imagine the whole may have 
been improved and beautified, for the last time, by some 
countryman of William III., who came over and died 
in the same year with that king, and whose works here, 
in wood and box, have been following him piecemeal 
ever since. 

*' St. Chad's Well is scarcely known in the neigh- 
bourhood save by its sign-board of invitation and for- 
bidding externals ; ... it is haunted, not frequented. 
A few years, and it will be with its waters, as with the 
water of St. Pancras' Well, which is enclosed in the 
garden of a private house, near old St. Pancras Church- 
yard." 

But, although the prophecy in " Hone" was destined 

' Rhone was an old waiter at the Well. Sec p. 51. 



St. Chad's Well, 



49 



to be fulfilled, yet it was twelve years before it came 
about, and it was not until September 14, 1837, that 
Messrs. Warlters and Co. sold, at Garraway's Coffee 
House, Change Alley, Cornhill, the '^ valuable Copy- 
hold Property, situate in Gray's Inn Lane, near King's 
Cross, Battle Bridge," which consisted of '' The well- 
known and valuable Premises, Dwelling-house, Large 
Garden, and Offices, with the very celebrated Spring of 
Saline Water called St. Chad's Well, which, in proper 
hands, would produce an inexhaustible Revenue, as its 




ST. chad's well. 



qualities are allowed by the first Physicians to be un- 
equalled." 

It was a good sized piece of ground ; in shape of a 
somewhat irregular triangle, of which the base measured 
about 200 feet, and from apex to base 95 feet. It was 
Copyhold. The vendor was not to be asked for a title 
prior to 1793, and it was held of the Manor of Cantlowes 
or CantlerSy subject to a small fine, certain, of 6s. 8d., 
on death or alienation, and to a Quit Rent of fd. per 
annum. We should say, nowadays, that the assessment 
was very small, as, including the large gardens, both 
back and front, the whole was only valued, including 

5 



50 St. Chad's Well-water. 

the Saline Springy at^^Si los. per annum, of which 
^2 1 I OS. was let off, but which formed but a small 
portion of the property. 

What would not the waters of St. Chad's Well cure .? 
Really I think the proprietor hardly knew himself, for a 
handbill I have before me commences — '' The celebrity 
of these waters being confined chiefly to its own 
immediate vicinity for a number of years ; the present 
proprietor has thought proper to give more extensive 
publicity to the existence of a nostrum provided by 
Nature, through Divine Providence, approaching nearest 
that great desideratum of scientific men and mankind 
in general, throughout all ages ; namely, an Universal 
Medicine. . . . The many cures yearly performed by 
these waters does not come within the limits of a hand- 
bill, but, suffice it to say, that here, upon trial, the 
sufferer finds a speedy and sure relief from Indigestion 
and its train, Habitual Costiveness, the extensive 
range of Liver Complaints, Dropsy in its early 
stages. Glandular Obstructions, and that bane of 
life, ScROPHULA ; for Eruptions on the Face or 
Skin its almost immediate efficacy needs but a trial." 
This wonderful water, with use of garden, was then, say 
1835, supposed to be worth to the sufferer _^i per annum, 
or threepence a visit, or you might have it supplied at 
eightpence per gallon. 

And yet it seems only to have been a mild aperient, 
and rather dear at the price. In the Af/>ror of April 13, 
1833, Mr. Booth, Professor of Chemistry, professed to 
give an analysis of the " Mineral Waters in the neigh- 
bourhood of London," and he thus writes of St. Chad's 



St. Chad's Well-water. 



SI 



Well : " It is aperient, and is yet much resorted to by 
the poorer classes of the metropolis, with whom it 
enjoys considerable reputation. From an examination, 
I find it to be a strong solution of sulphate of soda and 
sulphate of magnesia" — but he does not favour us with 
a quantitative analysis. 

Neither does the proprietor, one Wm. Lucas, who 
not only propounded the handbill from which I have 
quoted, but published a pamphlet on the healing virtues 
of the spring, and he also adds to Mr. Booth's quali- 
tative analysis, " a small quantity of Iron, which is held 
in Solution by Carbonic Acid." 

" The Well from which the Waters are supplied, is ex- 
cluded from the external air ; the Water when freshly 
drawn is perfectly clear and pellucid, and sparkles when 
poured into a glass ; to the taste it is slightly bitter, not 
sufficiently so to render it disagreeable ; indeed, Persons 
often think it so palatable as to take it at the table for 
a common beverage." 

This, however, is slightly at variance with the follow- 
ing, '' As a Purgative, more so than could be inferred 
from their taste, a pint is the ordinary dose for an Adult, 
which operates pleasantly, powerfully, and speedily:" 
qualities which are scarcely desirable for a Table water. 

That, at one time, this Well was in fashion, although 
in 1825 it was in its decadence, I may quote from the 
pamphlet (which, however, must be taken by the 
reader, quantum valeat) : 

'* Jonathan Rhone, who was Gardener and Waiter 
at these Wells upwards of Sixty Years, says, that when 
he first came into office at about the middle of the 



52 



St. Chad's Well-water. 



eighteenth Century, the Waters were in great repute, 
and frequently were visited by eight or nine hundred 
Persons in a morning : the charge for drinking the 
Waters was Three pence each Person, and they were 
delivered at the Pump Room for exportation, at the 
rate of Twenty-four pint bottles, packed in hamper, 
for One Pound Cash." 




CHAPTER V. 

AS the Fleet was " the River of Wells " it may be 
as well to notice the Wells, which, although not ab- 
solutely contributing towards swelling its volume, 
are yet closely adjacent — namely, White Conduit, and 
Sadlers Wells. Both of these, as indeed were all the 
other Wells about London, were first known as mineral 
springs, a fact which drew the middle classes to seek 
relief from real, or fancied, ailments, by drinking the 
medicinal waters, as at Bath, Epsom, Cheltenham, 
Harrogate, Brixton, and elsewhere. Wherever people 
congregate, the mere drinking of salutary water, is but 
tame work, and the animal spirits of some of them 
must find an outlet in amusements, which materially 
assist, to say the least, in the agreeable passing of time. 
But the mere drinking of waters must have been irk- 
some — even if people took to it as well as Shadwell in 
his play of " Epsom Wells " describes : — 

" Brisket. 1 vow it is a pleasurable Morning : the 



54 



Medicinal Waters. 



Waters taste so finely after being fudled last Night. 
Neighbour Frihhler here's a Pint to you. 







'■'■ Frihbler . I'll pledge you, Mrs. Brisket; I have 
drunk eight already. 

^^ Mrs. Brisket. How do the Waters agree with 
your Ladyship ? 



Spas. 



SS 



^^ Mrs. Woodly. Oh, Sovereignly: how many Cups 
have you arrived to ? 

" Mrs. Brisket. Truly Six, and they pass so kindly." 

By degrees these medicinal waters, or Spas, as they 
were termed in later times, fell into desuetude, possibly 
because medical knowledge was advancing ; and the 
Wells, with their gardens attached, became places of 
outdoor recreation, where the sober citizen could smoke 
his pipe, and have his beer, or cider, whilst his wife, and 
her gossips, indulged in tittle tattle over their Tea — 
which, although much dearer than at present, was a very 
popular beverage, and so, from health resorts, they 
imperceptibly merged into the modern Tea Garden — 
which, in its turn, has become nearly extinct, as have 
the Ranelagh and Vauxhall of a former age ; which, 
however, we have seen, in our time, somewhat resusci- 
tated in the outdoor portion of the several Exhibitions 
which have taken place, in the few past years, at South 
Kensington. 

The White Conduit had a history of its own, which 
we can trace back, at all events, to the fifteenth century, 
for it was built as a reservoir to supply what was, 
afterwards, the Charterhouse. 

This we can see by a royal licence, dated December 2, 
9 Henry VI. an. 1431,^ which granted to John Feryby, 
and his wife Margery, that they might grant and assign 
to the Prior and Convent of the House of the Saluta- 
tion of the Blessed Mary of the Carthusian Order, by 
London, a certain well spring {fontein) and 53 perches 
of land in length, and 12 feet in breadth, in the vill 

' Cart. Antiq. in Off. Augm. vol. ii. No. 43. 



56 The White Conduit. 

of Iseldon (Islington) to have to them and their suc- 
cessors for ever, and to the same Prior and Convent, 
to take the said land, and construct a certain subter- 
raneous aqueduct from the aforesaid well spring, through 
the aforesaid land, and through the King's highway 
aforesaid, and elsewhere, as it may seem best &:c., non 
obstante the Act against mortmain {Teste Humfride 
Duce Glome St r Custode Anglic apud Weslm.). 

As we know, Henry VIII, put an end to the 
Monastic Orders in England, and, at the dissolution 
of the Priory, the reversion of the site, and house 
thereof, was granted, on April 14, 1545,^ to Sir Roger 
North, in fee, together with " all that the Head and 
original Well Spring of one Channel or Aqueduct 
situate and being in a certain field in the parish of 
Islington " — and it also gave, all the channels, aqueducts, 
and watercourses under ground " up to the site of the 
said House of the Carthusians." 

But, although the spring might, and did, supply the 
Charter House, yet it is possible that the Conduit 
House, from which it got the name of White Conduit, 
from its being built of white stone — was built by 
Thomas Sutton, who founded the Hospital of the 
Charter House, — in 161 1. It was either built by him, 
or repaired in 1641, for, incorporated in the building, 
was a stone containing his arms — and initials. - 

The other initials have not been identified. As the 
" White Conduit " it was known well into this century, 
but it fell somewhat into decay, about 18 12 — was never 
repaired, and, finally, was pulled down in 1 831 — to make 

' Pat. 36 Henry VIII. p. 13, m. 31. - See next page. 



The White Conduit. 



57 



way for the completion of some new buildings in 
Barnsbury Road, as a continuation of Penton Street: 
and the stone was broken up, and used in making the 
New Road. 

So much for the Conduit itself; but it, although 
inert, exercised a large share in the amusements of 
Londoners down to a comparatively recent period. It 
was pleasantly situated in the fields, and, until this 
century, during the latter half of which, the modern 
Babylon has become one huge mass of bricks and 
mortar, it served as a pleasant place of recreation for 
the Cits. There was an uninterrupted prospect of 







STONE IN THE WHITE CONDUIT. 
Gentleman' s Magazine, vol. Ixxi. p. Il6i, A.D. iSoi. 

Hampstead and Highgate — which bounded the northern 
view, and which was purely pastoral, with the exception 
of sparsely-dotted farmhouses. There is a tradition 
that, on the site of the comparatively modern White 
Cond^Lit HouseyV^'^s (in the reign of Charles L), a tavern 
in the course of erection, and that, being finished, the 
workmen were carousing at the very moment of the 
monarch's decapitation. 

Doubtless, in these suburban fields, there was, for very 
many years, a place for refreshment, which probably 
took the form, in the Arcadian age of the seventeenth 
and eighteenth century, of new milk, curds and whey. 



58 White Conduit House. 

and syllabubs, for Islington was famous for its dairy pro- 
duce, ^ as we know by the account of the entertainment 
given to Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle in 1575 
by the Earl of Leicester, when the Squier Minstrel of 
Middlesex made a long speech in praise of Islington, 
whose motto was said to be, " Lactis Caseus infans." 

The earliest really authentic notice of the White 
Conduit House, I can find, is in the Daily Advertiser 
August 10, 1754. "This is to acquaint the public, 
that, at the White Conduit House, the proprietor, for 
the better accommodation of the gentlemen and ladies, 
has completed a long walk, with a handsome circular 
Fish-pond, a number ot shady, pleasant arbours inclosed 
with a fence 7 feet high to prevent being the least 
incommoded from the people in the fields. Hot loaves,^ 
and butter every day, milk directly from the Cows; 
coffee and tea, and all manners of liquors in the greatest 
perfection : also a handsome Long Room, from whence 
is the most Copious prospects and airy situation of any 
now in vogue. I humbly hope the continuance of my 
friends' fivours, as I make it my chief study to have the 
best accommodations, and am, Gentlemen and Ladies, 
your obliged humble servant, Robert Bartholomew. 
Note. My Cows eat no grains, neither any adulteration 

' In an early sixteenth century book (unique) printed by Wynkyn 
de Worde, called " Cocke Lorelles Bokc " the dairy farming at 
Islington is mentioned — 

" Also mathewe to the drawer of London, 
And sybly sole mylke-wyfe of Islington." 

' These Rolls were as famous as Chelsea Buns. " White Conduit 
loaves" being a familiar street cry. 



White Conduit House. 59 

in the Milk or Cream. Bats and Balls for Cricket, and 
a convenient field to play in." 

This gives us a very fair insight into the sober relaxa- 
tions of our great-great-grandfathers : and that the 
White Conduit House was, about this time, a resort 
for harmless recreation ; and, certainly, it would rejoice 
the modern temperance enthusiasts to find that the 
principal beverages there drank were " non-intoxicants." 
Oliver Goldsmith used frequently to go there, walking 
from his house at Islington; and, in his ''Citizen of 
the World," letter 122, he writes, "After having sur- 
veved the Curiosities of this fair and beautiful town, 
J proceeded forward, leaving a fair stone building on 
my right ; here the inhabitants of London often assemble 
to celebrate a feast of hot rolls and butter. Seeing 
such numbers, each with their little tables before them, 
employed on this occasion, must no doubt be a very 
amusing sight to the looker-on, but still more so to 
those who perform in the Solemnity." 

And the same story of simplicity of amusement, and 
refreshment, is amusingly told in the Gentlematis Maga- 
zine for May, 1760, vol. xxx. p. 242, in a short poem 
by William Woty, the author of the " Shrubs of Par- 
nassus, consisting of a variety of poetical essays, moral 
and comic, by I. Copywell, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq. 1 760." 

" Jnd to White Conduit House 
We will go, will go, will go y 

Grub Street Register. 

"Wish'd Sunday's come — mirth brightens ev'ry face, 
And paints the rose upon the housemaid's cheek 
Harriot, or Mol more ruddv. Now the heart 



6o 



White Conduit House. 



Of prentice resident in ample street, 

Or alley, Kcnnel-wash'd Cheapside, Cornhill 

Or Cranbor7ie^ thee, for calcuments renown'd, 

With joy distends. His meal meridian o'er. 

With switch in hand, he to White Co?iduit house 

Hies merry hearted. Human beings here 

In couples multitudinous assemble, 

Forming the drollest groupe, that ever trod 

Fair Islingtonian plains. Male after male. 

Dog after dog, succeeding — husbands — wives — 

Fathers and mothers — brothers — sisters — friends — 

And pretty little boys and girls. Around, 

Across, along, the garden's shrubby maze. 

They walk, they sit, they stand. What crowds press on. 

Eager to mount the stairs, eager to catch 

First vacant bench or chair in long-room plac'd. 

Here prig with prig holds conference polite, 

And indiscriminate, the gaudy beau. 

And sloven mix. Here he, who all the week 

Took bearded mortals by the nose, or sat 

Weaving dead hairs, and whistling wretched strain. 

And eke the sturdy youth, whose trade it is 

Stout oxen to contend, with gold bound hat, 

And silken stocking strut. The red-arm'd belle 

Here shews her tasty gown, proud to be thought 

The butterfly of fashion : and, forsooth. 

Her haughty mistress deigns for once to tread 

The same unhallow'd floor. 'Tis hurry all. 

And ratling cups and saucers. Waiter here. 

And waiter there, and waiter here and there. 

At once is call'd — yoe — yoe — "Joe — yoe — yoe — 

yoe on the right — and yoe upon the left. 

For ev'ry vocal pipe re-ecchoes yoe. 

Alas, poor yoe ! Like Francis in the play 

He stands confounded, anxious how to please 

The many-headed throng. But shou'd I paint 

The language, humours, customs o^ the place. 

Together with all curtsy's lowly bows. 



White Conduit. 6i 

And compliments extern, 'twould swell my page 

Beyond it's limits due. Suffice it then, 

For my prophetic muse to say, ' So long 

As fashion rides upon the Wing of time, 

While tea and cream, and buttered rolls can please, 

While rival beaux, and jealous belles exist, 

So long White Co?iduit house, shall be thy fame. 

W. W." 

Later on in the century, it was still a reputable place 
of resort. In 1774, there was a painting at one end 
of the garden, the perspective of which served, arti- 
ficially, to augment its size ; the round fish-pond in the 
centre of the garden, still existed, and the refreshment- 
rooms, or boxes, were hung with Flemish and other 
pictures. 

Hone ("Every Day Book," vol. ii. p. 1201, &c.) 
says, "About 18 10, the late celebrated Wm. Hunting- 
don S.S.^ of Providence Chapel, who lives in a handsome 
house within sight, was at the expense of clearing the 
spring for the use of the inhabitants ; but, because his 
pulpit opinions were obnoxious, some of the neighbour- 
ing vulgar threw loads of soil upon it in the night, 
which rendered the water impure, and obstructed its 
channel, and, finally, ceasing to flow, the public was 
deprived of the kindness he proposed. The building 
itself, was in a very perfect state at that time, and ought 
to have been boarded up after the field it stood in was 
thrown open. As the new buildings proceeded, it was 
injured, and defliced, by idle labourers and boys, from 
mere wantonness, and reduced to a mere ruin. There 

' This revivalist used these initials as meaning " Sinner Saved." 



62 



White Conduit. 



was a kind of upper floor or hayloft in it, which was 
frequently a shelter to the houseless wanderer. A few 
years ago some poor creatures made it a comfortable 







hostel for the night with a little hay. Early in the 
morning a passing workman perceived smoke issuing 
from the crevices, and as he approached, heard loud 
cries from within. Some mischievous miscreants had 



White Conduit House. 63 

set fire to the fodder beneath the sleepers, and, after- 
wards, fastened the door on the outside : the inmates 
were scorched by the fire, and probably they would all 
have been suffocated in a few minutes, if the place had 
not been broken open. 

"The 'White Conduit' at this time (1826) merely 
stands to those who had the power, and neglected to 
preserve it. 

" To the buildings grown up around, it might have 
been rendered a neat ornament, by planting a few trees, 
and enclosing the whole with an iron railing, and have 
stood as a monument of departed worth. 

" * White Conduit House ' has ceased to be a recrea- 
tion in the good sense of the word. Its present 
denomination is the * Minor Vauxhall,' and its chief 
attraction during the passing summer has been Mrs. 
Bland. I She has still powers, and, if their exercise 
here, has been a stay and support to this sweet melodist, 
so far the establishment may be deemed respectable. 
It is a ground for balloon flying and skittle playing, 
and just maintains itself above the very lowest, so as 
to be one of the most doubtful places of public resort. 
Recollections of it some years ago are more in its 
favour. Its tea gardens then, in summer afternoons, 

^ A somewhat famous singer in the latter part of the eighteenth 
and first quarter of the nineteenth centuries. She sang and acted 
at Drury Lane and the Haymarket — and also sang at Vauxhall. She 
became poor, and on July 5, 1 824, she had a benefit at Drury Lane, 
which, with a public subscription, produced about j^Soo. Lord 
Egremont also allowed her ;^8o a year. She was somewhat related 
to Royalty: her husband. Bland, an actor at Drury Lane, being the 
brother of Mrs. Jordan, who was the wife of William the Fourth. 



64 



White Conduit House. 



were well accustomed by tradesmen and their families ; 
they are now comparatively deserted, and, instead, there 
is, at night, a starveling show of odd company and 
coloured lamps, a mock orchestra, with mock singing, 
dancing in a room which decent persons would prefer 
to withdraw their young folks from, if they entered. 




WHITE CONDUIT GARDENS (INTERIOR). 



and fireworks ' as usual,' which, to say the truth, are, 
usually, very good." 

As time went on, the place did not improve, as we 
may see by the New Monthly Magazine for 1833, in an 
article — part of " Four Views of London." Speaking 
of the White Conduit — " Here too is that Paradise of 
apprentice boys, White Cundick Couse, as it is cacopho- 



White Conduit Gardens. 



65 



niously pronounced by its visitors, which has done much 
to expel the decencies of the district. Thirty years ago 




this place was better frequented — that is, there was a 
larger number of respectable adults — fathers and 

6 



66 White Conduit Gardens. 

mothers, with their children, and a smaller moiety of 
shop lads, and such like Sunday bucks, who were awed 
into decency by their elders. The manners, perhaps, 
are much upon a par with what they were. The ball- 
room gentlemen then went through country dances with 
their hats on, and their coats off: — hats are now taken 
off, but coats are still unfashionable on these gala nights. 
The belles of that day wore long trains to their gowns : 
it was a favourite mode of introduction to a lady there, 
to tread on it, and then, apologizing handsomely, 
acquaintance was begun, and soon ripened into an 
invitation to tea, and the hot loaves for which these 
gardens were once celebrated. Being now a popular 
haunt, those who hang on the rear of the march of 
human nature, the suttlers, camp followers, and 
plunderers, know that where large numbers of men and 
boys are in pursuit of pleasure, there is a sprinkling of 
the number to whom vice and debauchery are ever 
welcome : they have, therefore, supplied what these 
wanted ; and Pentonville may now hold up its head, 
and boast of its depravities before any part of 
London." i 

It got more and more disreputable, until it was pulled 
down in 1849, and the present White Conduit Tavern 
was built upon a portion of its site. 

' A frequent visitor at these gardens was the late George Cruik- 
shank, and many subjects were transferred to his sketch book. He 
was so well known, as to become a sort of terror to the habitues of 
the place, and children were threatened, when fractious, "that if 
they made such ugly faces, Mr. Cruikshank would put them in 
his book." 




CHAPTER VI. 



SADLER'S WELLS does not really feed the Fleet 
River, but I notice the spring, for the same reason 
that I noticed the White Conduit. 
A very fair account of its early history is given in a 
little pamphlet entitled " A True and Exact Account of 
Sadlers Well : or the New Mineral Waters. Lately 
found out at Islington : Treating of its nature and 
Virtues. Together with an Enumeration of the Chiefest 
Diseases which it is good for, and against which it may 
be used, and the Manner and Order of Taking of it. 
Published for publick good by T. G. (Thomas Guidot) 
Doctor of Physick. Printed for 'Thomas Malthiis at 
the Sun in the Poultry. 1684." 

It begins thus : — " The New Well at Islington is a 
certain Spring in the middle of a Garden, belonging to 
the Musick House built by Mr. Sadler^ on the North 
side of the Great Cistern that receives the New River 
Water near Islington, the Water whereof was, before the 
Reformation, very much famed for several extraordinary 
Cures performed thereby, and was, thereupon, accounted 



68 Sadler's Discovery. 

sacred, and called Holy Well. The Priests belonging 
to the Priory of Clarken-well using to attend there, 
made the People believe that the vertues of the Waters 
proceeded from the efficacy of their Prayers. But upon 
the Reformation the Well was stopt up, upon a suppo- 
sition that the frequenting it was altogether superstitious, 
and so, by degrees, it grew out of remembrance, and 
was wholly lost, until found out, and the Fame of it 
revived again by the following accident. 

" Mr. Sadler being made Surveyor of the High Ways,, 
and having good Gravel in his own Gardens, employed 
two Men to Dig there, and when they had Dug pretty 
deep, one of them found his Pickax strike upon some 
thing that was very hard ; whereupon he endeavoured 
to break it, but could not : whereupon thinking with 
himself that it might, peradventure, be some Treasure 
hid there, he uncovered it very carefully, and found it 
to be a Broad, Flat Stone : which, having loosened, and 
lifted up, he saw it was supported by four Oaken Posts, 
and had under it a large Well of Stone Arched over, 
and curiously carved ; and, having viewed it, he called 
his fellow Labourer to see it likewise, and asked him 
whether they should fetch Mr. Sadler, and shew it to 
him ? Who, having no kindness for Sadler^ said no ; 
he should not know of it, but as they had found it, so 
they would stop it up again, and take no notice of it ; 
which he that found it consented to at first, but after a 
little time he found himself (whether out of Curiosity, 
or some other reason, I shall not determine) strongly 
inclined to tell Sadler of the Well ; which he did, one 
Sabbath Day in the Evening. 



MiLEs's MusicK House, 69 

" Sadler^ upon this, went down to see the Well, and 
observing the Curiosity of the Stone Work, that was 
about it, and fancying within himself that it was a 
Medicinal Water, formerly had in great esteem, but by 
some accident or other lost, he took some of it in a 
Bottle, and carryed it to an Eminent Physician, telling 
him how the Well was found out, and desiring his 
Judgment of the Water ; who having tasted and tried 
it, told him it was very strong of a Mineral taste, and 
advised him to Brew some Beer with it, and carry it to 
some Persons, to whom he would recommend him ; 
which he did accordingly. And some of those who 
used to have it of him in Bottles, found so much good 
by it, that they desired him to bring it in Roundlets." 

Sadler's success, for such it was, provoked the envy 
of others, and one or two satires upon the Wells were 
produced. 

Soon after he opened the Wells, Evelyn visited them, 
as we read in his invaluable diary. *' June 11, 1686. 
I went to see Middleton's receptacle of water ^ and the 
New Spa Wells, near Islington." The Spring was still 
known as Sadler's up to 1697 as we find in advertise- 
ments in the Fost Boy and Flying Post of June, in 
that year. But the " Musick House " seems to have 
passed into other hands, for in 1699 it was called 
" Miles's Musick House." They seem to have had 
peculiar entertainments here, judging by an account in 
Da'-ivk's Protestant Mercuiy of May 24, 1699. "On 
Tuesday last a fellow at Sadler's Wells, near Islington, 

' The New River Head, 



yo A Man eats a Live Cock, &:c. 

after he had dhied heartily on a buttock of beef, for the 
lucre of tive guineas, eat a live cock, feathers, guts, and 
all, with only a plate of oil and vinegar for sawce, and 
half a pint of brandy to wash it down, and afterwards 
proffered to lay five guineas more, that he could do the 
same again in two hours' time." 

That this was a fact is amply borne out by the testi- 
mony of Ned Ward, who managed to see most of what 
was going on in town, and he thus describes the sight 
in his rough, but vigorous language. 

" With much difficulty we crowded upstairs, v/here 
we soon got intelligence of the beastly scene in agitation. 
At last a table was spread with a dirty cloth in the 
middle of the room, furnished with bread, pepper, oil, 
and vinegar ; but neither knife, plate, fork, or napkin ; 
and when the beholders had conveniently mounted 
themselves upon one another's shoulders to take a fair 
view of his Beastlyness's banquet, in comes the lord of 
the feast, disguised in an Antick's Cap, like a country 
hangman, attended by a train of Newmarket executioners. 
When a chair was set, and he had placed himself in sight 
of the whole assembly, a live Cock was given into the 
ravenous paws of this ingurgitating monster." 

In the same year, in his " Walk to Islington," Ward 
gives a description of the people who frequented this 
" Musick House." 

" mixed with a vermin trained up tor the gallows, 

As Bullocks ^ and files,= housebreakers and paddcrs.3 
With prize fighters, swcetncrs,+ and such sort of traders. 
Informers, thief-takers, deer-stealers, and bullies." 



'■ A hector, or bully. - A pickpocket. 

3 A tramp. '* A Sharper. 



Forcer, the Proprietor. 71 

It seems to have been kept by Francis Forcer, a 
musician, about 1725, and the scene at the Wells is 
graphically described in *' The New River, a Poem, by 
William Garbott." 



" Through Islington then glides my best loved theme 
And Miles's garden washes with his stream : 
Now F — r's Garden is its proper name, 
Though Miles the man was, who first got it fame ; 
And tho' it's own'd. Miles first did make it known, 
F — r improves the same w^e all must own. 
There you may sit under the shady trees. 
And drink and smoak, fann'd by a gentle breeze ; 
Behold the fish, how wantonly they play, 
And catch them also, if you please, you may, 
Two Noble Swans swim by this garden side, 
Of water-fowl the glory and the pride ; 
Which to the Garden no small beauty are ; 
Were they but black they would be much more rare : 
With ducks so tame that from your hand they'll feed. 
And, I believe, for that, they sometimes bleed. 
A noble Walk likewise adorns the place. 
To which the river adds a greater grace : 
There you may sit or walk, do which you please, 
Which best you like, and suits most with your case. 
Now to the Show-room let's awhile repair. 
To see the active feats performed there. 
How the bold Dutchman, on the rope doth bound. 
With greater air than others on the ground : 
What capers does he cut ! how backward leaps ! 
With Andrew Merry eyeing all his steps : 
His comick humours with delight you see, 
Pleasing unto the best of company," &c. 

But a very vivid description of Sadler's Wells is 
;iven in " Mackliniana, or Anecdotes of the late Mr. 



72 Macklin on Sadler's Wells. 

Charles Macklin, Comedian " in the European Magazine 
for 1801 (vol. xl. p. 16): — 

" Being met one night at Sadler's Wells by a friend, 
v/no afterwards saw him home, he went into a history 
of that place, with an accuracy which, though nature 
generally denies to the recollection of old age in recent 
events, seems to atone for it in the remembrance of 
more remote periods. 

" Sir, I remember the time when the price of admis- 
sion here was but threepence^ except a few places scuttled 
off at the sides of the stage at sixpence, and which was 
usually reserved for people of fashion, who occasionally 
came to see the fun. Here we smoked, and drank 
porter and rum and water, as much as we could pay 
for, and every man had his doxy that liked it, and so 
forth ; and though we had a mixture of very odd com- 
pany (for I believe it was a good deal the baiting place 
of thieves and highwaymen) there was little or no 
rioting. There was a public then. Sir, that kept one 
another in awe. 

" ^ Were the entertainments anything like the 
present ? A. No, no ; nothing in the shape of 
them ; some hornpipes and ballad singing, with a kind 
of pantomimiic ballet, and some lofty tumbling — and all 
this was done by daylight, and there were four or five 
exhibitions every day. 

" ^. How long did these continue at a time ? 
A. Why, Sir, it depended upon circumstances. The 
proprietors had always a fellov/ on the outside of the 
booth, to calculate how many people were collected for 



Actors at Sadler's Wells. 73 

a second exhibition, and when he thought there were 
enough, he came to the back of the upper seats, and 
cried out, ' Is Hiram Fisteman here ? ' This was the 
cant word agreed upon between the parties, to know the 
state of the people without — upon which they concluded 
the entertaiment with a song, dismissed that audience, 
and prepared for a second representation. 

" ^. Was this in Rozamon's time ? A. No, no. 
Sir ; long before — not but old Rozamon improved it a 
good deal, and, I believe, raised the price generally to 
sixpence, and in this way got a great deal of money." 

Space prevents one going into the merits of the 
Theatre here, but it may not be out of place if I 
mention some of the singers, and actors, who have 
appeared on those boards — Joey Grimaldi, Braham, 
Miss Shields (afterwards Mrs. Leffler), Edmund Kean, 
the great traveller Belzoni, Miss Tree, Phelps, of 
Shakespearian fame, Marston, and others, testify to the 
talent which has had its home in this theatre. One pecu- 
liarity about Sadler's Wells Theatre was the introduction 
of i'eal water as a scenic effect. It seems to have been first 
ydsed on Easter Monday, April 2, 1804, in an enter- 
tainment called Naumachia. A very large tank was 
made under the stage, and filled with water from the 
New River ; and in this tank mimic men o' war bom- 
barded Gibraltar, but were repulsed, with loss, by the 
heroic garrison. Afterwards, it was frequently used for 
Spectacles, in which water was used as an adjunct. 

After this digression let us follow the course of the 
River Fleet. Leaving St. Chad's Well, and before 



74 



The Pindar of Wakefield. 



coming to Bagnigge Wells, there stood in Gray's Inn 
Road an old public-house called the Pindar of Wake- 
field, the pounder, or keeper of the pound at that town, 
the famous George a Green, who gave Robin Hood a 
notable thrashing, extorting from that bold outlaw this 
confession — 

" For this was one of the best pinders 
That ever I tryed with sword." 

This old house was destroyed by a hurricane in Novem- 
ber, 1723, when the two daughters of the landlord were 
killed by the falling walls. It was, however, at once 
rebuilt, and a public-house, bearing the same sign, exists 
at 328, Gray's Inn Road — most probably occupying the 
original site. 




^*i^ 



CHAPTER VII. 



BETWEEN this house, and Bagnigge Wells, was 
Bagnigge Wash, or Marsh, and Black Mary's 
WMls, or Hole. The etymology of this place 
is contested. In the Gentleman s Magazine for 1813, 
part ii. p. 557, in an "Account of various Mineral 
Wells near London," is the following : " Lastly, in the 
same neighbourhood, may be mentioned the spring or 
conduit on the eastern side of the road leading from 
Clerken Well to Bagnigge Wells, and which has given 
name to a very few small houses as Black Mary's Hole. 
The land here was, formerly, called Bagnigg Marsh, 
from the river Bagnigg, ^ which passes through it. 
But, in after-time, the citizens resorting to drink the 
waters of the conduit, which then was leased to one 
Mary, who kept a black Cow, whose milk the gentle- 
men and ladies drank with the waters of the Conduit, 
from whence, the wits of that age used to say, ' Come, 

' Otherwise the Fleet. 



78 " Black Mary's Hole." 

Jet us go to Mary's black hole.' However, Mary dying, 
and the place degenerating into licentiousness, about 
1687, Walter Baynes Esqre, of the Inner Temple, 
enclosed the Conduit in the manner it now is, which 
looks like a great oven. He is supposed to have left 
a fund for keeping the same in perpetual repair. The 
stone with the inscription was carried away during the 
night about ten years ago. The water (which formerly 
fed two ponds on the other side of the road) falls into 
the old Bagnigge river." 

This etymon, however, is contested in a pamphlet 
called An ex'perimental enquiry concerning the Contents^ 
^alities^ Medicinal Virtues of the two Mineral Waters 
of Bagnigge Wells, &:c., by John Bevis, M.D. This 
pamphlet was originally published in 1767, but I quote 
from the third edition of 18 19. *' At what time these 
waters were first known cannot be made out with any 
degree of evidence. A tradition goes that the place of 
old was called Blessed Mary's Well ; but that the name 
of the Holy Virgin having, in some measure, fallen into 
disrepute after the Reformation, the title was altered to 
Black Mary's Well, as it now stands upon Mr. Rocque's 
map, and then to Black Mary's Hole ; though there is a 
very different account of these latter appellations ; for 
there are those who insist they were taken from one 
Mary Woolaston, whose occupation was attending at a 
well, now covered in, on an opposite eminence, by the 
footway from Bagnigge to Islington to supply the 
soldiery, encamped in the adjacent fields, with water. 
But waving such uncertainties, it may be relied on for 
truth, that a late proprietor, upon taking possession of 



Its Disappearance. 79 

the estate, found two wells thereon, both steaned in a 
workmanlike manner ; but when, or for what purpose, 
they were sunk, he is entirely ignorant." 

But Black Mary's Hole, during the first half of the 
last century, had a very queer reputation. There was a 
little public-house with the sign of " The Fox at Bay," 
which probably had something to do with the numerous 
highway robberies that occurred thereabouts. 

In Cromwell's "History of Clerkenwell," pp. 318, 
319, we hear of the last of Black Mary's Hole. He 
says, '^ Beneath the front garden of a house in Spring 
Place, and extending under the foot-pavement almost 
to the turnpike gate called the Pantheon Gate, lies the 
capacious receptacle of a Mineral Springs which in 
former times was in considerable repute, both as a 
chalybeate, and for its supposed efficacy in the cure of 
sore eyes. . . . About ten years back, when Spring 
Place was erected, the builder removed every external 
appearance of Walter Baynes's labours, and converted 
the receptacle beneath into a cesspool for the drainage 
of his houses. The spring thus degraded, and its 
situation concealed, it is probable that the lapse of a few 
more years would have effaced the memory of it for 
ever, had not an accident re-discovered it in the summer 
of 1826. Its covering, which was only of boards, 
having rotted, suddenly gave way, and left a large chasm 
in the footpath. After some efforts, not perfectly suc- 
cessful, to turn off the drainage, it was then arched with 
brickwork, and a leaden pump placed over it, in the 
garden where it chiefly lies. But the pump being stolen 
during the following winter, the spring has again fallen 



8o Bagxigge Wells. 

into neglect, and possibly this page alone will prevent its 
being totally forgotten." 

Still following the Fleet to its outfall, we next come 
to Bagnigge Well, a chalybeate spring, first used medi- 
cinally, and then, like all these Spas, merely as a 
promenade, and place of out-of-door recreation. 

Originally, this spring probably belonged to the 
Nunnery at Clerkenwell, and may possibly be the 
" Rode Well " mentioned in the Register of Clerken- 
well. But we are indebted to Dr. Bevis, from whose 
pamphlet I have already quoted, for a history of its 
modern rise and development (p. 38). 

" In the year 1757, the spot of ground in which this 
well is sunk was let out to a gentleman curious in 
gardening, who observed that the oftener he watered his 
flowers from it the worse they throve. I happened, 
toward the end of that summer, to be in company with 
a friend who made a transient visit to Mr. Hughes, 
and was asked to taste the water ; and, being surprised 
to find its flavour so near that of the best German 
chalybeates, did not hesitate to declare my opinion, that 
it might be made of great benefit both to the public and 
himself. At my request, he sent me some of the water, 
in a large stone bottle, well corked, the next day ; a 
gallon whereof I immediately set over a fire, and by a 
hasty evaporation found it very rich in mineral contents, 
though much less so than I afterwards experienced it to 
be when more leisurely exhaled by a gentle heat. 
Whilst this operation was carrying on, I made some 
experiments on the remainder of the water, particularly 
with powdered galls, which I found to give, in less than 



Nell Gwyn's Houses. 8i 

a minutCj a very rich and deep purple tincture to it, that 
lasted many days without any great alteration. I re- 
ported these matters to Mr. Hughes, but, soon after, a 
very dangerous illness put a stop to my experiments, 
which I did not resume for a considerable time, when 
the proprietor called, and told me his waters were in very 
great repute, and known by the name of Bagnigge 
Wells ; which I remembered to have seen in the news- 
papers, without so much as guessing it had been given 
to these springs. Mr. Hughes took me to his wells, 
where I was not a little pleased with the elegant accom- 
modations he had provided for company in so short a 
time." 

The house attached to the Spa is said to have been 
the residence of Nell Gwyn, but tradition has assigned 
her so many houses; at Chelsea, Bagnigge Wells, High- 
gate, Walworth, and Filberts, near Windsor — nay, one 
enterprising tradesman in the Strand has christened 
a milk shop '^ Nell Gwyn's Dairy," and has gone to 
some expense, in pictorial tiles, to impress on passers-by 
the genuineness of his assertion. 

Still, local tradition is strong, and, in a book called 
" The Recreations ^ of Mr. Zigzag the elder " (a 
pseudonym for Mr. John Wykeham Archer, artist and 
antiquary), which is in the Library of the City of 
London, and which is profusely '' Grangerised " by the 
author, is a small water colour of Bagnigge House, the 
reputed dwelling of Nell Gwyn, which I have repro- 
duced in outline, and on this drawing is a note, " More- 
over several small tenements at the north end of the 

^ These papers appeared in the Illustrated Family Journal. 



82 



Bagnigge House. 



Garden were formerly entitled Nell Gwynne's Buildings, 
which seems to verify the tradition." ^ 

But the evidence is all of a quasi kind. In the long 
room, supposed to have been the banqueting room, was, 
over the mantel, a bust, an alto relievo^ of a female, 
supposed to be Nell Gwyn, and said to be modelled by 
Sir Peter Lely, enclosed in a circular border of fruit, 
which, of course, was at once set down as a delicate 




BAGNIGGE HOUSE. (Said to have been Nell Gwyn's.) 

allusion to the actress's former calling of orange wench 
in the theatres. The bust and border were painted to 
imitate nature, and on either side were coats of arms — 
one the Royal arms, and, on the other side, the Royal 
arms quartered with others, which were supposed to be 
those assumed by the actress. When the old house was 
pulled down, the bust disappeared, and no one knows 
whither it went. 

'In Cromwell's "History of Clcrkenwell," p. 322, we read, 
" In memory of its supposed proprietor, the owner of some small 
tenements near the north end of the gardens styled them 'Nell 
Gwynn's Buildings ;' but the inscription was erased before 1803." 



Bagnigge House. 83 

I give a quotation from the Sunday TimeSy July 5, 
1840, not as adding authority, or weight, to the idea 
that Bagnigge House was Nell's residence, but to show 
how deeply rooted was the tradition. It is a portion of 
the " Maximms and Speciments of JVilliam Muggins, 
Natural Philosopher^ and Citizen of the World " — 

'^Oh ! how werry different London are now to wot 
it war at the time as I took my view on it from the post ; 
none of them beautiful squares and streets, as lies heast 
and west, and north of the hospital, war built then ; it 
war hall hopen fields right hup to Ampstead an Ighgate 
and Hislington. Bagnigge Well stood by itself at the 
foot of the hill, jist where it does now ; and then it 
looked the werry pictur of countryfiedness and hin- 
nocence. There war the beautiful white washed walls, 
with the shell grotto in the hoctagon summer house, 
where Nell Gwynne used to sit and watch for King 
Charles the Second. By the by, a pictur done by a 
famous hartist of them days. Sir Somebody Neller I 
thinks war his name, represents the hidentical ouse (it 
war a fine palace then) with the hidentical hoctagon 
summer house, with the beautiful Nelly leaning hout of 
the winder, with her lilly white hand and arm a-beckon- 
ing, while the King is seed in the distance galloping 
like vinking across the fields a waving his hat and 
feathers ; while a little page, with little tobacker-pipe 
legs, in white stockings, stands ready to hopen a Uttle 
door in the garden wall, and let hin the royal wisitor, 
while two little black and tan spanels is frisking about 
and playing hup hold gooseberry among the flower beds. 



84 Bagnigge House. 

That ere pictur used to hang hup in the bar parlor ; its 
wanished now — so are the bust as were in the long room ; 
but there's another portrait pictur of her, all alone by 
herself, done by Sir Peter Lely, still to be seen. (This 
here last coorosity war discovered honly a year or two ago, 
rolled hup among sum rubbige in the loft hunder the 
roof.)" 

The old house, however, was evidently of some 
importance, for, over a low doorway which led into the 
garden, was a stone, on which was sculptured a head in 
relief, and the following inscription — 

X 

THIS IS BAGNIGGE 

HOUSE NEARE 

THE PINDAR A 

WAKEFIELDE 

1680. 

thus showing that the Pindar of Wakefield was the 
older house, and famous in that locality. This doorway 
and stone were in existence within the last forty years, 
for, in a footnote to page 572 of the Gentleman's 
Magazine of June, 1 847, it says, " The gate and in- 
scription still remain, and will be found, where we saw 
them a few weeks since, in the road called Coppice Row, 
on the left going from Clerkenwell towards the New 
Road." 



Bagnigge Wells. 



85 



The following illustration gives Bagnigge Wells as it 
appeared at the end of last century. 




BAGNIGGE WELLS, NEAR BATTLE BRIDGE, ISLINGTON. 

We have read how these gardens were first started i» 
1757, but they soon became well known and, indeed, 
notorious, as we read in a very scurrilous poem called 
*' Bagnigge Wells," by W. Woty, in 1760 — 

"Wells, and the place I sing, at early dawn 
Frequented oft, where male and female meet, 
And strive to drink a long adieu to pain. 
In that refreshing Vale with fragrance fill'd, 
Renown'd of old for Nymph of public fame 
And amorous Encounter, where the sons 
Of lawless lust conven'd — where each by turns 
His venal Doxy woo'd, and stil'd the place 
Black Mary's Hole — there stands a Dome superb, 
Hight Bagnigge ; where from our Forefathers hid. 
Long have two Springs in dull stagnation slept ; 
But, taught at length by subtle art to flow. 
They rise, forth from Oblivion's bed they rise. 
And manifest their Virtues to Mankind." 



86 Bagnigge Wells. 

The major portion of this poem (?) is rather too risque 
for modern publication, but the following extract shows 
the sort of people who went there with the view of 
benefiting their health — 

"Here ambulates th' Attorney looking grave, 
And Rake from Bacchanalian rout uprose. 
And mad festivity. Here, too, the Cit, 
With belly, turtlc-stuff'd, and man of Gout, 
With leg of size enormous. Hobbling on, 
The Pump-room he salutes, and in the chair 
He squats himself unwieldy. Much he drinks. 
And much he laughs to see the females quaff 
The friendly beverage. He, nor jest obscene. 
Of meretricious wench, nor quibble quaint, 
Of prentic'd punster heeds, himself a wit 
And dealer in conundrums, but retorts 
The repartee jocosely. Soft ! how pale 
Yon antiquated virgin looks ! Alas ! 
In vain she drinks, in vain she glides around 
The Garden's labyrinth. 'Tis not for thee, 
Mistaken nymph ! these waters pour their streams," &c. 

And in the prologue to " Bon Ton : or High Life 
above Stairs," by David Garrick, acted at Drury Lane 
for the first time, for the benefit of Mr. King, in 1775, 
not much is said as to the character of its frequenters, 

" Ah ! I loves life and all the joy it yields, 
Says Madam Fupock, warm from Spittlefields. 
Bon Ton's the space 'twixt Saturday and Monday, 
And riding in a one-horse chaise on Sunday, 
'Tis drinking tea on summer's afternoons 
At Bagnigge Wells, with china and gilt spoons." 




CHAPTER VIII. 



THE gardens were pretty, after the manner of the 
times ; we should not, perhaps, particularly ad- 
mire the formally cut lines and hedges, nor the 
fountain in which a Cupid is hugging a swan, nor the 
rustic statuary of the haymakers. Still it was a little 
walk out of London, where fresh air could be breathed, 
and a good view obtained of the northern hills of 
Hampstead and Highgate, with the interlying pastoral 
country, sparsely dotted with farmhouses and cottages. 
The Fleet, here, had not been polluted into a sewer as 
it was further on, and there were all the elements of 
spending a pleasant, happy day, in good air, amid rural 
scenes. 

The place, however, rapidly became a disreputable 
rendezvous^ and we get an excellent glimpse of the 
costumes of circa 1780 in the two following en- 
gravings taken from mezzotints published by Car- 
ington Bowles ; although not dated, thev are of that 




5 Id 

5 2 




90 



Bagnigge Wells. 



period, showing the Macaronis and Belles of that time. 
The first is called '* The Bread and Butter Manu- 
factory,! or the Humours of Bagxigge Wells," and 
the second " A Bagnigge Wells Scene, or no resisting 




A BAGNIGGE WELLS SCENE; OR, NO RESISTING TEMPTATION. 
{Pttblished for Carington Botdes.) 

temptation," which gives a charming representation of 
the ultra fashion of dress then worn. 

^ An allusion to the hot buttered rolls, which were in vogue 
there. 



The Organist. 



91 



Yet another glance at the manners of the time is 
afforded by the boy waiter, who hurries along with his 
tray of tea-things and kettle of hot water. ^ 







THE BAGNIGGE ORGANIST. 



And there was good music there, too — an organ in 
the long room, on which Charles Griffith performed, as 
may be seen in the accompanying illustration. The 
name of Davis on the music books, is that of the then 

' See p. 89. 



92 Different Proprietors. 

proprietor, and the lines underneath are parodied from 
Dry den's "Song for St. Cecilia's day, 1687." 

"What passion cannot music raise and quell ! 
When Jubal struck the corded shell, 
His listening brethren stood around, 
And, wondering, on their faces fell." 

It went on with varying fortunes, and under various 
proprietors. First of all Mr. Hughes, then, in 1792, 
Davis had it ; in 18 13 it was in the hands of one Salter; 
in 1 8 18, a man named Thorogood took it, but let it to 
one Monkhouse, who failed, and it reverted to Thoro- 
good. Then came as tenant, a Mr. Chapman, who 
was bankrupt in 1833, and, in 1834, Richard Chapman 
was proprietor. I fancy he was the last, as public house, 
and gardens, combined. 

Mr. William Muggins, before quoted, laments its 
decadence thus : ^' Besides the whitewashed walls, and 
hoctagon shell grotto, there war the tea garden, with its 
honey suckle and sweet briar harbours, where they used 
to drink tea hout of werry small cups, and heat the 
far famed little hot loaves and butter ; then there war the 
dancing plot, and the gold and silver fish ponds, and the 
bowling green, and skittle alley, and fire work ground 
hall so romantic and rural, standing in the middle of a 
lot of fields, and shaded around with trees. Now it's 
a werry different concarn, for it's surrounded with build- 
ings — the gardens is cut hoff to nuffin, and the ouse 
looks tumble down and miserable." That was in 1 840. 

It was about this time that a song appeared in *^ The 
Little Melodist," 1839 — dilating on the delights of the 



'' Punch " on Bagnigge Wells. 93 

neighbourhood of Ishngton, and the first verse ran 
thus: 

"Will you go to Bagnigge Wells, 

Bonnet builder, O ! 
Where the Fleet ditch fragrant smells, 

Bonnet builder, O ! 
Where the fishes used to swim. 
So nice and sleek and trim. 
But the pond's now covered in, 

Bonnet builder, O ! 

Punch, too, when it was young, and had warm 
blood coursing through its veins, visited Bagnigge 
Wells, and recorded the visit in its pages (Sept. 7, 
1843). After a description of the walk thither, it says, 
" We last visited Bagnigge Wells about the beginning 
of the present week, and, like many travellers, at first 
passed close to it without seeing it. Upon returning, 
however, our eye was first arrested by an ancient door 
in the wall over which was inscribed the following : — i 

*' This inscription, of which the above is a.fac simile 
was surmounted by a noseless head carved in stone ; 
and, underneath, was a cartoon drawn in chalk upon the 
door, evidently of a later date, and bearing a resem- 
blance to some of the same class in Cell's ' Pompeii.' 
Underneath was written in letters of an irregular 
alphabet, ^Chucry' — the entire drawing being, 
without doubt, some local pasquinade. 

"■' Not being able to obtain admittance at the door, we 
went on a short distance, and came to the ruins of the 
ancient ^ Wells,' of which part of the banqueting room 

* See ante-p. 8-I-. 



94 " Punch " on Bagnigge Wells. 

still exists. These are entirely open to the public 
as well as the adjoining pleasure grounds, although 
the thick layer of brick-bats with which they are 
covered, renders walking a task of some difficulty. 
The adjacent premises of an eminent builder separate 
them by some cubits from the road of Gray's Inn, 
near which, what we suppose to be the ' Well ' is still 
visible. It is a round hole in the ground behind the 
ruins, filled up with rubbish and mosaics of oyster shells, 
but, at present, about eighteen inches deep. 

'^ It is very evident that the character of Bagnigge 
Wells has much altered within the last century. For, 
bearing that date, we have before us the ^ Song of the 
'Prentice to his Mistress' in which the attractions of 
the place are thus set forth : — 

" ' Come, come. Miss Priscy, make it up, 

And we will lovers be : 
And we will go to Bagnigge Wells, 

And there we'll have some tea. 
And there you'll see the ladybirds 

All on the stinging nettles ; 
And there you'll see the water-works, 

And shining copper kettles. 
And there you'll see the fishes, Miss, 

More curious than whales ; 
They're made of gold and silver. Miss, 

And wag their little tails.' ^ 



' With all due deference to Punch, I think his version is slightly, 
only slightly, inaccurate. I have before me five copies, two MS. 
and three printed, all of which run — 

" Come, prithee make it up. Miss, 
And be as lovers be, 



"Punch" on Bagnigge Wells. 95 

" Of the wonders recounted in these stanzas, the sting- 
ing nettles alone remain flourishing, which they do in 
great quantity. The Waterworks are now confined to 
two spouts and a butt against the adjacent building ; 
and the gold and silver fishes separately, in the form of 
red herrings and sprats, have been removed to the stalls 
in the neighbourhood, with a great deal more of the 
wag in the dealer, than in themselves. 

" The real Bagnigge Wells, where company assemble 
to drink, at the present day, is next door to the ruins. 
The waters are never drank, however, now, without 
being strongly medicated, by a process carried on at the 
various brewers and distillers of the Metropolis : with- 
out this, they are supposed, by some classes, to be highly 
injurious. Their analysis have produced various results. 
Soda has been detected in one species, analogous to the 



We'll go to Bagnigge Wells, Miss, 

And there we'll have some tea. 
It's there you'll see the Lady-birds 

Perch'd on the Stinging Nettles ; 
The Chrystal water Fountain, 

And the Copper, shining Kettles. 
It's there you'll see the Fishes, 

More curious they than Whales, 
And they're made of Gold and Silver, Miss, 

And wags their little tails. 

Oh ! they wags their little Tails 

— They wags their little Tails 
Oh ! they're made of gold and silver. Miss, and they 
wags their little Tails. 

Oh ! dear ! Oh ! la ! Oh ! dear ! Oh ! la ! 
Oh! dear! Oh! la! 

How funny ! " 



96 Decadence of "The Wells." 

German Seltzer, and designated ' Webb's ' ; others 
contain iron in appreciable quantities, and institute a 
galvanic circle, when quaffed from goblets formed from 
an alloy of tin and lead : in some constitutions quicken- 
ing the circulation, and raising the animal temperature — 
in others, producing utter prostration. 

" Flannel jackets, and brown paper caps appeared to be 
the costume of the valetudinarians who were drinking 
at the Wells, during our stay. We patronized the 
tepid spa by ordering ' Sixpennyworth warm,' as the 
potion was termed in the dialect of Bagnigge, for the 
purpose of drawing the proprietor into conversation. 
But he was, evidently, reluctant to impart much 
information, and told us nothing beyond what we 
already knew — a custom very prevalent at all the 
springs we have visited. 

'^ Lodgings, provisions, clothing, &c., are to be had 
at low rates in the neighbourhood, and there are several 
delightful spots in the vicinity of Bagnigge Wells. 

" The Excursion to Battle Bridge will be found highly 
interesting, returning by the Brill ; and, to the admirers 
of nature, the panorama from the summit of King's 
Cross, embracing the Small Pox Hospital, and Imperial 
Gas Works, with the very low countries surrounding 
them, is peculiarly worthy of especial notice." 

Two years previous to this notice, there was a para- 
graph in the 'Times (April 6, 1841) which shows how 
the Wells had fallen into decadence. " The Old Grotto, 
which had all the windows out, and was greatly dilapi- 
dated, and the upper part of the Garden Wall, was 
knocked down by some persons going along Bagnigge 
Road, early this morning." 



Bagnigge Wells. 



97 



The old place had fulfilled its mission. It had 
ministered to the recreation and amusement, harmless, 
or otherwise, of generations of Londoners, and it came 
to final grief, and disappeared in 1 844. Its name is 
still preserved in "The Bagnigge Wells" Tavern, 39, 
King's Cross Road, and that is all the reminiscence we 
have of this once famous place of recreative resort. 




CHAPTER IX. 

A LITTLE farther on, it washed the walls of Cold 
Bath Fields Prison, the House of Correction^ and 
we get a view of it in Hone's *' Table Book," ^ 
p. 75. Here he says, **^ In 1825, this was the first open 
view, nearest London, of the ancient River Fleet: it 
was taken during the building of the high arched walls 
connected with the House of Correction, Cold Bath 
Fields, close to which prison the river ran, as here seen. 
At that time, the newly erected walls communicated a 
peculiarly picturesque effect to the stream flowing with- 
in their confines." 

This '' House of Correction " was indebted for its 
birth to the famous John Howard, who had made an 
European tour, not to mention a home one, inquisitori- 
ally inspecting prisons. We all know the result of his 
labours ; how he exposed abuses fearlessly, and made 
men's hearts soften somewhat towards those incarcerated. 



' Sec next page. 



lOO 



Cold Bath Fields Prison. 



Howard, writing in 1789, held that capital punishment 
should be abolished except for murder^ setting houses on 
fire, and for house breaking, attended with acts of cruelty. 
And speaking of his Penitentiaries, he says : 

'' To these houses, however, I would have none but 




THE ANCIENT RIVER FLEET, AT CLERKENWELL, 1825. 

old, hardened offenders, and those who have, as the 
laws now stand, forfeited their lives by robbery, house- 
breaking, and similar Crimes, should be committed ; or, 
in short, those Criminals who are to be confined for a 
long term or for life. . . . 



Cold Bath Fields Prison. ioi 

" The Penitentiary houses, I would have built j in a 
great measure, by the convicts. I will suppose that a 
power is obtained from Parliament to employ such of 
them as are now at work on the Thames, or some of 
those who are in the county gaols, under sentence of 
transportation, as may be thought most expedient. In 
the first place, let the surrounding wall, intended for 
full security against escapes, be completed, and proper 
lodges for the gate keepers. Let temporary buildings, 
of the nature of barracks, be erected in some part of 
this enclosure which would be wanted the least, till the 
whole is finished." 

This was a portion of his scheme, and Jie suggested 
that it should be located, where it was afterwards built, 
in Cold Bath Fields — because the situation was healthy, 
that good water could be obtained from the White 
Conduit, as the Charter House no longer required that 
source of supply, it being well served by the New 
River Company — that labour was cheap — and so was 
food, especially the coarse meat from the shambles at 
IsUngton. 

The prisoners were to have separate cells, so as to 
prevent the promiscuous herding of all, which had 
previously produced such mischievous results, and these 
cells were to be light and airy. The convicts of both 
sexes were to work, and their food was to be apportioned 
to the work they had to do. Also — a very great step 
in the right direction — they were all to wear a prison 
uniform. Howard, philanthropist as he was, was very 
far from lenient to the rogue. He was fully aware of 
the value of worky and specially provided that his rogues» 



I02 Cold Bath Fields Prison. 

in their reformation, should pass through the purifying 
process of hard labour. In later times, the way of 
transgressors was hard in that place, and it became a 
terror to evildoers, beins known bv the name of the 
English Bastile — which, however, amongst its patrons, 
was diminished, until it finally was abbreviated into 
*'the Steel" by which name it was known until its 
abolition.^ 

This cognomen was so well known, that, in 1799, a 
book was written by " A Middlesex Magistrate " en- 
titled " The Secrets of the English Bastile disclosed " 
— which was a favourable story of the management of 
the prison in Cold Bath Fields. Still, it was the subject 
of a Parliamentary inquiry, as we find in the 
Gentleman's Magazine for 1798-9, under date of Dec. 
31, 1798, p. 398, that, in the House of Commons, 
Sir Francis Burdett gave notice of his intention of 
moving, at some future day, for a report relative to 
the system practised in the prison, called the House of 
Correction, Cold Bath Fields, with regard to the 
persons therein confined. 

In the " Parliamentary History of England," vol. 
xxxiv. p. ^66^ we learn that on Mar. 6, 1799, Mr. W. 
Dundas moved that a Select Committee be appointed to 

'J. T. Smith in his " Vagabondiana," cd. 1815-1817, p. 51, 
alludes thus to the prison : " Perhaps the only waggery in public- 
house customs now remaining, is in the tap room of the Apple- 
tree, opposite to Cold Bath Fields Prison. There are a pair of 
hand cuffs fastened to the wires as bell-pulls, and the orders given 
by some of the company, when they wish their friends to ring, are, 
to 'Agitate the Conductor.'" 



Cold Bath Fields Prison. 103 

inquire into the state of his Majesty's prison in Cold 
Bath Fields, Clerkenwell, and report the same, as it 
shall appear to them, together with their opinion there- 
upon, to the House ; and a Committee was appointed 
accordingly. Unfortunately, the pages of what, after- 
wards, become Hansard's^ do not record the result. 

But in the Annual Register for the same year on Dec. 
2 1 St there was a long report respecting it during a 
debate on the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. 
Mr. Courtenay said, that, " having visited the prisons, 
he found the prisoners without fire, and without candles, 
denied every kind of society, exposed to the cold and 
the rain, allowed to breathe the air out of their cells 
only for an hour, denied every comfort, every innocent 
amusement, excluded from all intercourse with each 
other, and, each night locked up from all the rest of the 
world. He supposed it was scarcely necessary to 
inform the House, that the prison of which he had 
been speaking, was that in Cold Bath Fields, known by 
the name of the Bastille." There was a lot more non- 
sense of the same type talked by other M.P.'s and, it 
is needless to say, that the exaggerated statements were 
anent a political prisoner — who afterwards suffered death 
for treason. And in the remainder of the debate even 
the very foundation for the libel was destroyed. It is a 
curious fact, that people have an idea that political 
prisoners, who have done as much harm to the common- 
weal as they have the possibilitv of doing, are to be treated 
daintily, and with every consideration for their extremely 
sensitive feelings. We, perhaps, in these latter days, 
may read a profitable lesson in the suppression of treason. 



I04 Cold Bath Fields Prison. 

from the proper carrying out of the sentences legally 
imposed upon those who resist the law out of pure 
malice (legal). 

In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1796, is the 
following letter to — 

Dec. 10, 1795. 
Mr. Urban. — Your respect for the memory of Mr. 
Howard, will induce you to insert the inclosed view of 
the House of Correction for the County of Middlesex, 
formed principally on his judicious suggestions. It is 
situated on the North side of London, between Cold 
Bath Fields, and Gray's Inn Lane. The spot on which 
it is erected having been naturally swampy, and long 
used for a public lay-stall, it was found prudent to lay 
the foundation so deep, and pile it so securely, that it is 
supposed there are as many bricks laid underground as 
appear to sight. What is more to the purpose, the 
internal regulations of this place of security are believed 
to be perfectly well adapted to the salutary purposes to 
which the building is appropriated. 

*' Yours, &c., 

"EUGENIO." 



Still Cold Bath Fields Prison had an evil name — in 
all probability, because prisoners there, were treated as 
if they had sinned against the social canons, and were not 
persons to be coaxed and petted into behaviour such as 
would enable them to rank among their more honest 
fellows, and in this way wrote Coleridge and Southey in 
" The Devil's Walk," which was suggested by the 



Cold Bath Fields Prison. 105 

pseudo Christos Brothers who as these gentlemen 
wrote : — ^ 

"He walked into London leisurely. 
The streets were dirty and dim : 
But there he saw Brothers, the Prophet, 
And Brothers the Prophet saw him." 

Well, in the Devil's rambles he came across Cold 

Bath Fields Prison — which, as I have said, was 

not beloved of the criminal class, and, simply, as I 

think, for the sake of saying something smart, and not 

that they ever had experienced incarceration, or is there 

any evidence that they had even seen the prison, they 

write : 

" As he passed through Cold Bath Fields he look'd 
At a solitary Cell ; 
And he was well-pleased, for it gave him a hint 
For improving the prisons of Hell. 

He saw a turnkey tie a thief's hands 

With a cordial try and a jerk ; 
Nimbly, quoth he, a man's fingers move 

When his heart is in his work. 

He saw the same turnkey unfettering a man 

With little expedition ; 
And he chuckled to think of his dear slave trade. 
And the long debates, and delays that were made 

Concerning its abolition." 

There is very little doubt, however, that, in the 
closing year of last, and the commencing one of this, 

* " Atter this I was in a vision, having the angel of God near 
mc, and saw Satan walking leisurely into London " (" Brothers' 
Prophecies," part i. p. 41). 



io6 Cold Bath Fields Prison. 

century, the conduct of the Governor — a man named 
Aris — was open to very grave censure. People outside 
imagined that all sorts of evils were being perpetrated 
within its walls, and, either through laxity, or too 
great severity, of discipline, something nigh akin to 
mutiny occurred in the prison in July, 1800 — which 
was promptly stopped by the presence of a company of 
the Clerkenwell Volunteers. In Auofust of the same 
year, there was another outbreak in the prison, the 
occupants shouting '' Murder," and that they were 
being starved, in tones loud enough to be heard outside, 
and, once more the Volunteers were the active agents 
in enforcing law and order. This latter " seething of 
the pot " lasted a few days, and it culminated in the 
discharge of the obnoxious Governor Aris. 

There is nothing noteworthy to chronicle of this 
prison from that date,^ all prison details being, neces- 

^ I have met with a Newspaper Cutting, with no clue to its 
authenticity or date. " Dreadful Ravages of the Influenza in 
THE House of Correction. — Yesterday afternoon, Inquests were 
holden by William Baker, Esq., one of the Coroners for the County 
of Middlesex, at the House of Correction, Coldbath Fields, on no 
less than five individuals, namely, Peter Griffiths, Michael Hughes, 
James Jones, Thomas Lillie, and Ann Connard, all of whom had 
died from the effects of the present prevalent epidemic, or influenza, 
and who were inmates of that prison, and had been sentenced to 
different periods of imprisonment. It is a fact that, for the last 
two months, more prisoners have died in this prison, principally 
from the effects of influenza, than had died there during the whole 
of the preceding year." Possibly the poor Fleet River, at that time 
hardly degraded to the level of the Sewer — which now it is — may 
have had something to do with the unsanitary condition of the 
prison. — J. A. 



Cold Bath Fields Prison. 107 

sarily, unsavoury — ^and this particular one was not 
watered with rose water. It was a place of hard work, 
and not likely to impress the unproductive class, with a 
wish to be permanent inhabitants thereof. Yet, as this 
present year witnessed its demolition, something more 
must be said respecting it. In the Globe newspaper 
of January i, 1887, is ^^is short paragraph: "Notices 
were yesterday posted on the walls of Coldbath Fields 
Prison, intimating that it is for sale. Tenders are 
invited for the site, and all buildings, &c., contained 
within the boundary walls. The prison covers an area 
of eight acres and three quarters." 

There ought to be some record of its dying days, for 
the demolition of a prison in a large community of 
people, like ours in London, must mean one of two 
things, either a diminution of crime, or, that the prison 
is not suitable to the requirements of the age. 

The Ninth Report of the Commissioners of Prisons, 
for the Year ended March 31, 1886, speaking of 
Pentonville Prison, says : 

"In November, 1885, the majority of the prisoners 
confined in Coldbath Fields Prison were transferred to 
this Prison ; and since that date, the remainder have 
also been removed here, that prison being now vacated, 
and in charge of a warder acting as caretaker. 

" The tread-wheel ^ has been taken down at Coldbath 
Fields Prison, and is in process of re-erection here. 

" The behaviour of the officers has been good, with the 
exception of four, discharged by order of the Prison 
Commissioners. 

^ Adopted at Coldbath Fields Prison, July, 1822. 



io8 Cold Bath Fields Prison. 

" The conduct of the prisoners has been generally- 
good. 

" The materials and provisions supplied by the Con- 
tractors have been good, and have given satisfaction. 

" To meet the requirements of the local prison service, 
a room is being completed for the convenience of the 
members of the Visiting Committee who attend here, 
also a room for the daily collection of prisoners to see 
the medical officer, and other purposes, as well as 
various minor alterations found necessary since the 
transfer. 

" A bakehouse has been completed, and is in working 
order, supplying bread to all metropolitan prisons. 

" The routine and discipline have been carried out in 
the same general manner as heretofore. 

" The industrial labour continues to be attended with 
satisfactory results ; the greater portion is still devoted 
to supplying the wants of other prisons or Government 
establishments instead of the market. 

" Uniform clothing for officers is cut out here for all 
local prisons, and made up for a considerable number of 
the smaller prisons, also prisoners' clothing and bedding, 
hospital slippers for the Admiralty, as well as a large 
number of Cases and other articles for the General Post 
Office have been supplied. 

" The duties of the Chaplain's department have been 
performed uninterruptedly during the year, morning 
prayers have been said daily, and Divine Service has 
been performed on Sundays, Good Friday, and Christ- 
mas day, in the morning and afternoon, with a sermon 
at both services. The Holy Communion has been 



Cold Bath Fields Prison. 109 

celebrated from time to time on Sundays and on the 
great Sunday Festivals. The hospital has been daily 
visited ; special attention has been paid to the prisoners 
confined in the punishment Cells, and constant oppor- 
tunity has been offered to all of private instruction and 
advice. Books from the prisoners' library have been 
issued to all who are entitled to receive them, all 
prisoners who cannot pass standard three, as set forth 
by the Education Committee have been admitted to 
school instruction. 

" School books and slates and pencils are issued to 
prisoners in their cells. 

" The medical officer states that the health of the 
prisoners at Coldbath Fields, and since the transfer to ' 

this prison, has been good. One case of small-pox \ 

occurred at Coldbath Fields ; as the prisoner had been \ 

some months in gaol, it was clear that he had caught x 

the disease, either from a warder, or from some prisoner 
recently received ; he had been a cleaner in the rotunda, 
and, of course, had been coming into contact with 
warders and prisoners alike, in the busiest part of the 
prison, the presumption is that the disease had been 
carried by the uniform of some warder. There were 
five cases of erysipelas at Coldbath Fields, and one at 
this prison, at the former place the cases came from all 
parts of the prison, new and old. The air shafts were 
thoroughly swept and limewashed, and disinfected as 
far as could be reached, and there is no doubt that it 
checked the disease. 

" The dietary has been satisfactory during the year, 
and the new pattern clothing a great improvement. 



no Cold Bath Fields Prison, 

" Every precaution is taken in classing prisoners for 
labour suited to their age, physique and health. 

" The sanitary arrangements are most carefully super- 
vised ; the ventilation in the cells is very good." 

I offer no apology for intruding this report of Prison 
life, which, if one took the trouble to look up the yearly 
reports, he would find they are all couched in almost 
identical language.^ I simply give it for the considera- 
tion of my readers — who, with myself, do not belong 
to the criminal classes — to show them how those who 
have preyed upon them, and have deservedly merited 
punishment, meet with treatment such as the indigent 
and industrious poor, when, fallen upon evil times, can 
not obtain, and the sooner these pampered criminals 
feel, through their flesh — either by the whip, hard 
labour, or hunger — that the wages of sin are not paid at 
a higher rate than that procurable by honest labour, the 
probability is that the community at large would be 
considerably benefited, and the criminal classes would be 
in a great measure deprived of clubs to which there is 
neither entrance fee, nor annual subscription, in which 
everything of the best quality is found them free of 
charge, and the health of their precious carcases specially 
looked after, and gratuitously attended to. 

' Let any one compare, for instance, reports for 1884 and 1886. 



1 




CHAPTER X. 



COLDBATH FIELDS were, a hundred and 
twenty years ago, fairly rural, for (although it 
certainly is recorded as an abnormal occurrence) 
we find, in the Daily Courant, November 12, 1765, 
" Friday afternoon, about two o'clock, a hare crossed 
the New Road, near Dobney's Bowling green, ran to 
the New River Head, and from thence to Coldbath 
Fields, where, in some turning among the different 
avenues, she was lost. She appeared to have been hard 
run, by her dirty and shabby coat." 

These fields took their name from a spring (part of 
the River of Wells) which had its source there. A 
Mr. Walter Baynes of the Temple, who was, for his 
day, far-seeing, and made the most of the ** town lots " 
which were in the market, bought this plot of land, and 
at once utilized it to his profit. It was of some note, 
as we read in a book published in Oueen Anne's reign, 
"A New View of London," 1708, vol. ii. p. 785. 



\ 



112 The "Cold Bath." 

" Cold Bath. The most noted and first ^ Rhout London 
was that near Sir John Oldcastle's^ where, in the Year 
1697, Mr. Bains undertook and yet manages this busi- 
ness of Cold Bathing, which they say is good against 
Rheumatisms, Convulsions of the Nerves, &c., but of 
that, those that have made the Experiments are the best 
judges. The Rates are is. 6d. if the Chair is used,- 
and 2s. without it. Hours are from five in the morning 
to one, afternoon." 

We learn two things from this — the pristine exist- 
ence of " tub," and the fact that it was purely matutinal. 
Nay, from the same book we learn more, for, under the 
heading of " Southwark Cold Bath," we find that the 
" utmost time to be in, three minutes." At this latter 
places were " ex votos," so frequently seen at shrines on 
the Continent. " Here are eleven Crutches, which 
they say, were those of persons cured by this Water." 
Bathing was a luxury then — water was bought by the 
pailful, and a warm bath at the Hummums cost 5s., 
equal to between los. and 15s. of our money. 

Walter Baynes, Esq., of the Middle Temple, seems 
to have been a pushing man of business, and willing to 
make the most of his property. He traded on the un- 

' Conduit. 

^ This, I take it, refers to a practice mentioned in a pamphlet, 
"A Step to the Bath" (London, 1700), which I think is by Ned 
Ward. " The usual time being come to forsake that fickle 
Element, Half Tub Chairs, Lin'd with Blankets, Ply'd as thick as 
Coaches at the Play Home, or Carts at the Custom House" It has 
been suggested that the Chair was used for debilitated patients ; 
but, knowing the use of the term "Chair" at that epoch, I venture 
to propose my solution. 



Cold Bath. 



113 



cleanliness of the times, when baths were mostly used 
in case of illness, and daily ablution of the whole body 
was unknown. Ladies were quite content to dab their 
faces with some " fucus " or face wash, or else smear 
them with a greasy larded rag. The shock of a veri- 
table cold bath from a spring, must have astonished 
most of those who endured it, and no doubt invested it 




SOUTH VIEW OF THE COLD BATHS. 



with a mysterious merit which it did not possess, other- 
wise than by cleansing the skin, both by the washing, 
and the subsequent rubbing dry. 

However, we find Mr. Baynes advertising in the 
Post Boy J March 28, 1700, the curative effects of 
his wonderful spring. " This is to give notice that the 

9 



114 Cold Bath. 

Cold Baths in Sir John Oldcastle's field near the north 
end of Gray's Inn Lane, London, in all seasons of the 
year, especially in the spring and summer, has been 
foundj by experience, to be the best remedy in these 
following distempers, viz., Dizziness, Drowsiness, and 
heavyness of the head. Lethargies, Palsies, Convulsions, 
all Hectical creeping Fevers, heats and flushings. In- 
flammations and ebullitions of the blood, and spirits, all 
vapours, and disorders of the spleen and womb, also 
stiffness of the limbs, and Rheumatick pains, also 
shortness of the breath, weakness of the joints, as 
Rickets, &c., sore eyes, redness of the face, and all im- 
purities of the skin, also deafness, ruptures, dropsies, 
and jaundice. It both prevents and cures colds, creates 
appetite, and helps digestion, and makes hardy the 
tenderest constitution. The coach way is by Hockley 
in the Hole." 

Of course, viewed by the light of modern medical 
science, Mr. Baynes was a charlatan, and a quack, but 
he acted, doubtless, according to his lights, in those 
days ; and, if a few were killed, it is probable that 
many more were benefited by being washed. 

Sir Richard Steele, writing in 17 15, says thus : 

" On the Cold Bath at Oldcastle's." 
" Hail, sacred Spring ! Thou ever-living Stream, 
Ears to the Deaf, Supporters to the Lame, 
Where fair Hygienia ev'ry morn attends, 
And with kind Waves, her gentle Succour lends. 
While in the Cristal Fountain wc behold 
The trembling Limbs, Enervate, Pale and Cold ; 
A Rosy Hue she on the face bestows. 
And Nature in the chilling fluid glows, 



Sir John Oldcastle. 115 

The Eyes shoot Fire, first kindled in the Brain, 
As beds of Lime smoke after showers of Rain ; 
The fiery Particles concentred there, 
Break ope' their Prison Doors and range in Air ; 
Hail then thou pow'rful Goddess that presides 
O'er these cold Baths as Neptune o'er his Tides, 
Receive what Tribute a pure Muse can pay 
For Health that makes the Senses Brisk and Gay, 
The fairest Offspring of the heavenly Ray." 

At one time there was a famous house of refreshment 
and recreation, either called the Cobham's Head, or the 
Sir John Oldcastle — or there were one of each. Au- 
thorities differ, and, although I have spent some time 
and trouble in trying to reconcile so-called facts, I have 
come to the conclusion that, for my reader's sake, le 
jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle. There is a tradition that 
Sir John Oldcastle who was a famous Lollard in the 
time of Henry V., either had an estate here, or hid in 
a house of entertainment there, during his persecution 
for faith. But the whole is hazy. 

We know that there was a Sir John Oldcastle, who was 
born in the fourteenth century, and who was the fourth 
husband of Joan, Lady Cobham, in whose right he took 
the title of Lord Cobham. We know also, that he 
enjoyed the friendship of Henry V., and was of his 
household. But he got imbued with the doctrines of 
Wyclif, was cited to appear, more than once, before the 
ecclesiastical authorities, declined the invitations, and 
was duly excommunicated. He wrangled with the 
priests, got committed to the Tower, escaped and hid 
in Wales, was accused of heading a trumpery insurrec- 
tion, and was, finally, captured, tried, and hanged in 



ii6 Archery. 

chains alive, upon a gallows in St. Giles' Fields, when, 
fire being put under him, he was slowly roasted to death 
in December, 141 7. A pious nobleman, like the late 
Lord Shaftesbury, for instance, was not popular at that 
time, if we may believe a few lines from " Wright's 
Political Songs from Edward II. to Henry VI." 

" Hit is unkindly for a Knight 
That shuld a kynges castel kepe, 
To bable the Bible day and night, 
In rcstyng time when he shuld slepe, 
And carefoly away to crepe ; 
For alle the chefe of chivalrie, 
Wei ought hym to wail and wepe, 
That swyche ^ lust is in Lollardic." 

The English were always famous bowmen, and 
archery — although gunpowder has long superseded bows 
and arrows in warfare — still is a favourite and fashion- 
able pastime, witness the Toxopholite Society in 
Regent's Park, and the various Archery associations 
throughout the kingdom ; so that it is not remarkable 
that an open space like Coldbath Fields should vie 
with the Artillery ground at Finsbury, in favour with 
the citizens, as a place for this sport ; and we find, in 
Queen Anne's reign, that the Sir John Oldcastle was 
frequented by Archers. And for this information we 
may thank that old sinner, John Bagford (who spoilt so 
many books for the sake of their title-pages) for pre- 
serving. It tells its own story : — - 

" All gentlemen of the ancient and noble exercise of 
^ Such pleasure. " Harl. MSS., 5961. 



Tea Gardens. 117 

Archery, are invited to the annual dinner of the Clerken- 
well Archers, Mrs. Mary Barton's, at the sign of Sir 
John Oldcastle (Cold Bath Fields) on Friday, July 18, 
1707, at one o'clock, and to pay the bearer, Thomas 
Beaumont, Marshall, 2s. 6d., taking a sealed ticket, 
that a certain number may be known, and provision 
made accordingly. Nath. Axtall, Esq., and Edward 
Bromwich, Gent., Stewards." 

There were very pleasant gardens attached to this 
tavern, and, like all the suburban places of recreation, 
they were well patronized, and they gave a very decent 
amusement in the shape of music — instrumental and 
vocal — and, occasionally, fireworks. But there seems to 
have been the same difficulty then, as now, as to keeping 
outdoor amusements, if not select, at least decorous, for, 
acccording to the Daily Advertisement of June 3, 1745, 
" Sir John Oldcastle's Gardens, Cold Bath Fields. This 
evening's entertainment will continue the Summer 
Season. The Band consists of the best masters. Six- 
pence for admission, for which they have a ticket, which 
ticket will be taken as sixpence in their reckoning. 
Particular care will be taken that the provisions shall be 
the very best in their separate kinds ; likewise to keep a 
just decorum in the gardens. Note. — Several ladies and 
gentlemen that come to the gardens give the drawers 
their tickets, which is no benefit to the proprietor ; 
therefore it's humbly desired that if any gentlemen or 
ladies don't chuse to have the value of their tickets in 
liquor, or eating, they will be so kind as to leave them 
at the bar." 



ii8 



Smallpox Hospital. 



As a place of amusement, it seems, even in 1745, to 
have been on the wane. In 1758 the Smallpox Hospital 
was built close to it, and in 1761 the Sir John Oldcastle 
was bought by the trustees of the hospital, in order to 
enlarge it, and was pulled down in 1762. Noorthouck 
("New History of London," ed. 1763, p. 752), 
speaking of Cold Bath Square, in which was the famed 
cold bath, says, " The North side of this square is, as 
yet, open to the fields, but a little to the east stands the 
Small Pox Hospital for receiving patients who catch the 
disease in the natural way ; and is a very plain, neat 
structure. The Center, which projects a little from the 



South. 



Front 




THE SMALLPOX HOSPITAL IN COLD BATH FIELDS. 



rest of the building, is terminated on the top by an 
angular pediment, on the apex of which is placed a vase 
upon a small pedestal. This excellent charity was in- 
stituted in the year 1 746, and is supported by a sub- 



The Pantheon. 119 

scription of noblemen, gentlemen, and ladies, who were 
desirous that a charity useful in itself, and so beneficial 
to the public, might be begun near this great metropolis, 
there not being any hospital of the kind in Europe. A 
neat hospital for inoculating this disorder has been lately 
built clear of the town on the north side of the New 
Road."i 

In 1 79 1 this hospital wanted extensive repairs, which 
would need an outlay of about ^800 ; and the trustees, 
not willing to incur this expense, built another on the 
site of the Inoculating Hospital at Islington ; and thither, 
when it was finished, all the patients were removed from 
Cold Bath Fields. But their new home was wanted for 
the Great Northern Railway, and another place was built, 
and still is, on Highgate Hill. The old building in 
Cold Bath Fields was first of all used as a distillery, and 
afterwards subdivided. 

Ouoting ag;ain from Noorthouck : " Eastward from 
the Small Pox Hospital, on the south side of the Spaw- 
field, is an humble imitation of the Pantheon in Oxford 
Road ; calculated for the amusement of a suitable class 
of company ; here apprentices, journeymen, and clerks 
dressed to ridiculous extremes, entertain their ladies on 
Sundays ; and to the utmost of their power, if not 

^ Noorthouck (book i. p. 358) says, "It is to be observed that in 
1746, an hospital was founded by subscription between London and 
Islington, for relieving poor people afflicted with the smallpox, and 
for inoculation. This is said to be the first foundation of the 
kind in Europe, and consisted of three houses; one in Old Street 
for preparing patients for inoculation ; another in Islington " 
(Lower Street) " when the disease appeared, and the third in Cold 
Bath fields for patients in the natural way." 



I20 The Pantheon. 

beyond their proper power, affect the dissipated manners 
of their superiors. Bagnigge Wells and the White 
Conduit House, two other receptacles of the same kind, 
with gardens laid out in miniature taste, are to be found 
within the compass of two or three fields, together with 
Sadler's Wells, a small theatre for the summer exhibition 
of tumbling, rope-dancing, and other drolls, in vulgar 
stile. The tendency of these cheap, enticing places of 
pleasure just at the skirts of this vast town is too ob- 
vious to need further explanation ; they swarm with 
loose women, and with boys, whose morals are thus 
depraved, and their constitution ruined, before they 
arrive at manhood. ; indeed, the licentious resort to the 
tea- drinking gardens was carried to such excess every 
night, that the magistrates lately thought proper to 
suppress the organs in their public rooms." 

There is no doubt but that some of these tea-gardens 
needed reform ; so much so, that the grand jury of 
Middlesex, in May, 1744, made a presentment of several 
places which, in their opinion, were not conducive to 
the public morality ; and these were two gaming-houses 
near Covent Garden, kept by the ladies Mordington and 
Castle ; Sadler's Wells near the New River head, the 
New Wells in Goodman's Fields, the New Wells near 
the London Spaw in Clerkenwell ; and a place called 
Hallam's Theatre in Mayfair, 

A possibly fair account of these gardens is found in 
the St. James's Chronicle, May [4-16, 1772 : 

" To the Printer of the S. J. Chronicle. 
" Sir, — Happening to dine last Sunday with a Friend 



The Pantheon. 121 

in the City, after coming from Church, the Weather 
being very inviting, we took a walk as far as Islington. 
In our Return home towards Cold Bath Fields, we 
stepped in, out of mere Curiosity, to view the Pantheon 
there ; but such a Scene of Disorder, Riot, and Con- 
fusion presented itself to me on my Entrance, that I 
was just turning on my Heel, in order to quit it, when 
my friend observing to me that we might as well have 
something for our Money (for the Doorkeeper obliged 
each of us to deposit a T'ester before he granted us 
Admittance), I acquiesced in his Proposal, and became 
one of the giddy Multitude. I soon, however, repented 
of my Choice; for, besides having our Sides almost 
squeezed together, we were in Danger every Minute of 
being scalded by the Boiling Water, which the officious 
Mercuries ^ were circulating with the utmost Expedition 
thro' their respective Districts : We began therefore to 
look out for some Place to sit down in, which, with the 
greatest Difficulty, we at length procured, and, pro- 
ducing our Tickets, were served with Twelve penny- 
worth of Punch. Being seated towards the Front of 
one of the Galleries, I had now a better Opportunity of 
viewing this dissipated Scene. The Male Part of the 
Company seemed to consist chiefly of City Apprentices, 
and the lower Class of Tradesmen. The Ladies, who 
constituted by far the greater Part of the Assembly, 
seemed, most of them, to be Pupils of the Cyprian 
Goddess, and appeared to be thoroughly acquainted with, 
their Profession, the different Arts and Manoeuvres of 
which they played off with great Freedom, and I doubt 

^ Sec p. 89. 



122 The Pantheon. 

not with equal Success. Whatever Quarter I turned my 
Eyes to, I was sure to be saluted with a Nod, a Wink, 
or a Smile ; and was even sometimes accosted with, 
' Pray, Sir, will you treat me with a Dish of Tea ? ' 
... A Bill, I think, was in Agitation this Session of 
Parliament for enforcing the Laws already made for the 
better Observance of Sunday. Nothing, in my Opinion, 
tends more to its Profanation, among the lower Class of 
People, than the great Number of Tea Houses, in the 
Environs of London ; the most exceptionable of which 
that I have had Occasion to be in, is the Pantheon. I 
could wish them either totally suppressed or else laid 
under some Restrictions, particularly on the Sabbath 
Day. 

" I am, 

" Sir, 
" Your Constant Reader, 

" and occasional Correspondent, 
" Chiswickj May 5. Speculator." 

This Pantheon was a large circular building sur- 
mounted by a statue of Fame. It was well warmed by 
a stove in its centre, and the grounds were prettily laid 
out. There were the usual walks, flower-beds, and pond, 
in the centre of which was a statue of Hercules, and, of 
course, the usual out-of-door refreshment boxes, or 
arbours. But it is just possible that it was owing to its 
somewhat disreputable conduct that the landlord became 
bankrupt in 1774, and the Pantheon was offered for 
sale. It was closed as a place of amusement in 1776, 
and the famous Countess of Huntingdon had some 



Lady Huntingdon's Chapel. . 123 

idea of utilizing it for the propagation of her peculiar 
religious views. However, the sum necessary for 
alterations, proved too much for her ladyship, yet by a 
strange mutation of fortune, somewhat akin to what we 
have seen in our time, in the Grecian Theatre in the 
City Road, being taken by the Salvation Army, the 
Pantheon was turned into a Proprietary Chapel, called 
Northampton Chapel, which was served by clergymen of 
the Church of England of strictly Evangelical principles, 
and it filled so well, that the incumbent of the parish 
church asserted his right to preach there whenever he 
liked, and also to nominate its chaplains. This the pro- 
prietors did not quite see, and they closed the chapel. 
Then Lady Huntingdon bought it, and, henceforth, it 
was called Spa Fields Chapel. 

The illustration ^ is taken from the New Spiritual 
Magazine^ and I do not think that an uglier 
building could be produced. Probably the statue of 
Fame was obliged to be removed, but the ventilator in 
its place was certainly not an improvement. However, 
it is now pulled down ; but, before its demolition, it had 
to pass through the ordeal of more proceedings at law. 
As long as the chapel was served by clergy, nominally 
belonging to the Church of England, so long did the 
incumbent of St. James's, Clerkenwell, assert his right 
to the patronage of it. The Countess relied on her 
privilege as a peeress, to appoint her own Chaplain, but 
this was overridden by competent legal opinion, and 
nothing was left but for the officiating clergy to secede 
from the Church of England, and 'take the oath of 

' See next page. 



Lady Huntingdon. 



125 



allegiance as Dissenting Ministers. This the Countess 
did not relish ; she would £iin be in the fold, and yet 
not of the fold, as do many others of this age, but she 
had to e^t- the leek. She had the proud privilege of 
fouidi ng a religious sect, and she left the bulk of her 
large property, after very generous legacies, to the sup- 
port of sixty-four chapels vv^hich she had established 
throughout the kingdom. She died at her house in Spa 
Fields, and was buried at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leices- 
tershire, " dressed in the suit of white silk which she 
wore at the opening of a chapel in Goodman's Fields." ^ 

^ Ge?itleman^s Mngnzi/ie, vol. Ixi. (1791), p. 589. The Chapel 
was pulled down in January or February, 1887. 




CHAPTER XI. 



IT is almost impossible to write about anything con- 
nected with Spa Fields, without mentioning the 
famous " Spa Fields Riots," which occurred on Dec. 2, 
1 8 16. In every great city there will always be a leaven 
of disquietude : demagogues who have nothing to lose, 
but all to gain, will always find an audience for their 
outpourings ; and, often, the ignorant, and unthinking, 
have only to be told, by any knave, that they are under- 
paid, downtrodden, or what not, and they are ready to 
yell, with their sweet breaths, that they are. So was it 
then in 18 16. 

And it is also remarkable how history repeats itself; 
for, part of the scheme proposed by the agitators on 
that day, was exactly similar to the proposals of certain 
Irishmen and Socialists of our time — teste the following 
hand-bill, taken from the 'Times^ the newspaper of 
Dec. 7, 1816. 

" Spence's Plan. For Parochial Partnerships in the 
Land, is the only effectual Remedy for the Distresses 



128 The Spencean System. 

and Oppression of the People. The Landowners are 
not Proprietors in Chief; they are but the Stewards of 
the Public; For the Land is the People's Farm. 
The Expenses of the Government do not cause the 
Misery that surrounds us, but the enormous exactions 
of these ' Unjust Stewards' Landed Monopoly is in- 
deed equally contrary to the benign spirit of Christianity, 
and destructive of the Independence and Morality of 
Mankind. 

" ' The Profit of the Earth is for all.' 

" Yet how deplorably destitute are the great Mass of 
the People ! Nor is it possible for their situations to be 
radically amended, but by the establishment of a system, 
founded on the immutable basis of Nature and Justice. 
Experience demonstrates its necessity and the rights of 
mankind require it for their preservation. 

" To obtain this important object, by extending the 
knowledge of the above system, the Society of Spencean 
Philanthropists has been instituted. Further informa- 
tion of it's principles may be obtained by attending any 
of it's sectional meetings, where subjects are discussed, 
calculated to enlighten the human understanding, and 
where, also, the regulations of the society may be pro- 
cured, containing a Complete development of the 
Spencean system. Every individual is admitted free of 
expense, who will conduct himself with decorum. 

First Section every Wednesday at the Cock, Grafton Street, Soho. 



Second 


■>■> 


■>■> 


Thursday 


»> 


MulberryTree,MulbcrryCt., 
Wilson Street, Mooriields. 


Third 


•» 


»» 


Monday 


■>■> 


Nag's Head, Carnaby Mrkt. 


Fourth 


I") 


■>■> 


Tuesday 


" 


No. 8, Lumber St., Mint, 
Borough." 



Orator Hunt. 



129 



There ! does not that read exactly like a modern speech 
delivered in Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, or Dublin ? 
Of course it was the old story of Demagogy. The pot 
boiled, the scum came to the top, and it boiled over, 
so that, one fine day, there was a riot. It was a period 
of distress for the working classes, who did not then, as 
now, swarm into London from all parts of England, 
and expect Jupiter to help them ; but then, as now, the 
rich were ever willing to help their poorer brethren, for, 
in the very same 'Times newspaper that gives an account 
of this Spa Fields Riot, there is a list of subscriptions 
towards the relief of distress in Spitalfields alone, 
amounting to over ^18,000. 

The story is one that should be told, because it has 
its lesson and its parallel in all time. The ruling spirit 
of the movement was Henry Hunt, generally called 
Orator Hunt, a man fairly well to do, and who did not 
agitate for the sake of his daily bread. The occasion of 
the meeting in Spa Fields, at which some 10,000 people 
were present, was to receive the answer of the Prince 
Regent to a petition from the distressed mechanics of 
London and its vicinity for relief. It was held first of 
all in front of the " Merlin's Cave " (a name which 
still survives at 131, Rosom.on Street, Clerkenwell), and 
afterwards in the adjacent fields. The following account 
of the riots is from the Times of Dec. 3, 1816 : 

" A.S a prelude to the scene that followed, and with the 
spirit of the ruling demagogue, a person mounted a coal 
waggon with three flags, on which were inscribed certain 
mottoes ; and, after having harangued a small audience, 

10 



130 Orator Hunt. 

draughted off from the general body, proceeded to the 
city, where the acts of violence were perpetrated, which 
will be found in another part of our paper. 

" The speech of this orator, and the conduct of his 
audience, we shall give in an extract from an evening 
paper as we were not present at the first part of the 
drama ourselves. 

" ' In the field was a Coal waggon, upon which were 
mounted about twenty persons, chiefly in the dress of 
sailors. Several flags were displayed ; two tricoloured 
ones, on one of which was the following inscription : 

" 'Nature, Truth, and Justice ! 
Feed the Hungry ! 
Protect the Oppressed ! 
Punish Crimes ! ' 

" ' On a second tricoloured flag, no inscription. 
" ' On a third white flag was inscribed in red letters 
the following : 

" ' The brave Soldiers are our Brothers ; treat them kindly.' 

" ' Many had bludgeons, and others pockets flill of 
stones. One person in the waggon then addressed the 
meeting in the following strain : — " I am sorry to tell 
you that our application to the Prince has failed. He, 
the father of his people, answered — ' My family have 
never attended to Petitions but fi-om Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, and the City of London.' And is this Man the 
father of the people ? No. Has he listened to your 
petition ? No. The day is come — (// is. It is, from the 



Orator Hunt. 131 

mob.) We must do more than words. We have been 
oppressed for 800 years since the Norman Conquest. 
If they would give ye a hod, a shovel, a spade, and a 
hoe, your mother earth would supply you. (^<?, aye, 
she would. Loud Applause.) Country men, if you will 
have your wrongs redressed, follow me. {T^hat we will. 
Shouts.) Wat Tyler would have succeeded had he not 
been basely murdered by a Lord Mayor, William of 
Walworth. Has the Parliament done their duty } No, 
Has the Regent done his duty ? No, no. A man who 
receives one million a year public money gives only 
^5,000 to the poor. They have neglected the starving 
people, robbed them of everything, and given them a 
penny. Is this to be endured ? Four millions are in 
distress ; our brothers in Ireland are in a worse state, 
the climax of misery is complete, it can go no farther. 
The Ministers have not granted our rights. Shall we 
take them : {Tes^ yes, from the mob.) Will you 
demand them? {Tes, yes.) If I jump down will you 
follow me .? {^Tes, yes, was again vociferated.)." 

" ' The persons on the waggon then descended with 
the flags ; the constables immediately laid hold of the 
flags. Some persons attempted resistance, and two 
were therefore taken up forthwith, and sent to prison. 
The constables succeeded in getting one of the flags. 

" ' When the second flag was displayed, it was sup- 
posed that it headed Mr. Hunt's procession, and there 
was a loud huzza, which stopped one of the waggon 
orators for five minutes.' 

" [For all the rest we hold ourselves responsible, as 
it is our own report of what passed.]." 



132 Orator Hunt. 

The Thnes then gives in detail a report of the meet- 
ing, commencing from the arrival of "Orator" Hunt, 
who read the correspondence between himself and Lord 
Sidmouth, and said : " The statement of Lord Sid- 
mouth to him was, that neither any King of the House 
of Brunswick, nor the Prince Regent, since he had 
attained sovereign power, ever gave any answer to 
petitions except they came from the Corporation of the 
City of London, or from the two Universities which 
had the privilege of being heard, and answered from 
the throne. ' If I were to carry your present petition 
to the levee (added his lordship) I should deliver it into 
his Royal Highness's hand, make my bow, and walk 
on ; and if you, yourself, Mr. Hunt, were to appear, 
you would do just the same thing ; you would deliver 
your petition, make your bow, and pass on.' This, 
Gentlemen, is a little more about Court matters than I 
was aware of before. (Loud laughter and applause.) 
The meeting had the consolation to think, that, if their 
petition was not answered by the Prince Regent, it had 
met with no worse fate than other petitions presented to 
the House of Hanover since the accession of this 
family to the throne. (Applause.) 

*' He expected to have seen this day a deputation 
from the Soup Committee, for the purpose of returning 
thanks to this meeting for obtaining the ^^5,000 which 
the Prince Regent had granted. (Great applause.) He 
was convinced that it was owing to the exertions and 
patriotism of the last assembly in those fields that his 
Royal Highness was induced to give this pittance : but 
his Royal Highness had not gone the full length of the 



4 



Riot in the City. 133 

requests which had then been made. It was required 
that he should bestow on the inhabitants of the 
metropolis ^1 or 300,000 out of the Civil List ; but, 
instead of this, what had been done ? Some enemy to 
his country, some corrupt minister had persuaded his 
Royal Highness to send ^^5000 out of the Droits of 
the Admiralty, which properly belonged to the sailors : 
those droits, the piratical seizing of which had caused 
so much bloodshed, and the loss of so many British 
lives." 

This was the sort of fustian that was talked then, as 
now, and probably always will be, to an ignorant mob ; 
and, as a natural sequence, words begot actions. Blind — 
foolishly blind — the idiotic mob marched towards the 
City, not knowing why, or what advantage they were 
to gain by so doing. Naturally, there were thieves 
about, and they plundered the shop of Mr. Beckwith, a 
gunmaker, in Skinner Street, Snow Hill, shooting a 
gentleman, named Piatt, who happened to be in the 
shop, at the time. 

At the Royal Exchange, the Lord Mayor, Sir James 
Shaw, with his own hands, seized a man, who was 
bearing a flag, and the mob, unable to force the gates, 
fired inside ; but as far as I can learn, without effect. 
Foiled in the attempt to sack, or destroy the Exchange, 
by the arrival of some civil force to the assistance of 
his Lordship, they moved on, seemingly aimlessly, 
towards the Tower : why — unless it was to supply 
themselves with arms — no one can guess. Of course, 
if they had tried to take it, they could not have accom- 



x^-V^UNMhkMM 



134 Riots. 

plished their purpose, but it never came to that. They 
stole a few guns from two gunmakers in the Minories, 
Messrs. Brander and Rea; and then this gathering of 
rogues and fools dispersed, and the nine days' wonder 
was over. 

As usual, nothing was gained by violence. Socialism 
certainly did not advance — nor was any more employ- 
ment found for anybody — and the thing fizzled out. 
But it was iiot the fault of the agitators. Let us read 
a short extract from a leading article in the Times of 
December 4, 1 8 1 6 : — 

" As to the foreseeing what was to happen — have we 
forgotten Mr. Hunt's advice on the first day to petition, 
then, if that failed to resort to physical force. They 
did petition, and he calls them together to tell them that 
their petition has failed ; and yet it is to be supposed 
that he foresees on their part no resort to physical force ! 
Why ! this would be trifling with the understanding of 
an infant. But the second time Mr. Hunt said nothing 
about physical force ! Oh, no. Whilst the bloody 
business was in hand by his myrmidons in Newgate 
Street, and at the Royal Exchange — whilst an innocent 
gentleman was in the hands of his assassins — whilst the 
life of the Chief Magistrate of the city was attacked 
by ruffians, the first inciter to the use of physical force 
was coolly haranguing on the comparative merits ot 
himself and his hunter, in Spa Fields. What ! did 
anybody expect that he would get up, and accuse 
himself openly of high treason ? Did Catilina, in 
the Roman Senate, avow his parricidal intentions 



End of Riots. 135 

against his country ? But, to quit Mr. Hunt for 
awhile, let us recall to the recollection of our readers, 
the incendiary handbills thrust under the doors of 
public houses, several weeks ago. A copy of one of 
them was inserted in our paper of the ist of last 
month; but, at the time it did not command that 
attention which its real importance perhaps deserved. 
It was of the following tenour : — ' Britons to arms ! 
Break open all gun and sword shops, pawnbrokers, and 
other likely places to find arms. No rise of bread, &c. 
No Castlereagh. Off with his head. No National 
Debt. The whole country waits the signal from London 
to fly to arms. Stand firm now or never. — N.B. Printed 
bills containing further directions , will be circulated as 
soon as possible.' " 

I have dwelt thus at length on these Spa Fields riots 
because the Socialistic and Communistic development 
therein contained, runs fairly parallel with our own 
times ; and it is comforting to know, that in this case, 
as in all others in England, the movement was purely 
evanescent ; the love of law and order being too deeply 
seated in the breasts of Englishmen. Nay, in this 
case, the butchers from the shambles in Whitechapel 
attacked the mob, and compelled them to give up their 
arms, " which the butchers express a wish to retain, as 
trophies and proofs of their loyalty and courage." 
Hunt fizzled out, and returned to his previous non- 
entity. 




CHAPTER XII. 



STILL continuing the downward course of the 
Fleet, an historical place is reached, " Hockley- 
in-the-Hole," or Hollow, so famous for its 
rough sports of bear baiting and sword and cudgel 
playing. The combative nature of an Englishman 
is curious, but it is inbred in him ; sometimes it 
takes the form of " writing to the papers," some- 
times of going to law, sometimes of " punching " 
somebody's head ; in many it ends in a stubborn fight 
against difficulties to be overcome — but, anyhow, I can- 
not deny that an Englishman is pugnacious by nature. 
Hear what Misson, an intelligent French traveller, who 
visited England in the reign of William III., says : 
" Anything that looks like fighting is delicious to an 
Englishman. If two little Boys quarrel in the Street, 
the Passengers stop, make a Ring round them in a 
Moment, and set them against one another, that they 
may come to Fisticuffs. When 'tis come to a Fight, 
each pulls off his Neckcloth and his Waistcoat, and 

/ 



ijS Fighting. 

give them to hold to some of the Standers by : then 
they begin to brandish their Fists in the Air ; the 
Blows are aim'd all at the Face, they Kick at one 
another's Shins, they tug one another by the Hair, &c. 
He that has got the other down may give him one 
Blow or two before he rises, but no more ; and, let the 
Boy get up ever so often, the other is obliged to box 
him again as often as he requires it. During the Fight, 
the Ring of Bystanders encourage the Combatants with 
great Delight of Heart, and never part them while 
they fight according to the Rules. The Father and 
Mother of the Boys let them fight on as well as the rest, 
and hearten him that gives Ground, or has the Worst." 
This was about 1700; and, if it was so in the green 
tree (or boy), what would it be in the dry (or man) ? 
I am afraid our ancestors were not over-refined. They 
did not all cram for examinations, and there were no 
Girton girls in those days, neither had they analytical 
novels : so that, to a certain extent, we must make 
allowances for them. Tea and coffee were hardly in 
use for breakfast, and men and women had a certain 
amount of faith in beer and beef, which may have had 
something to do in forming their tastes. Anyhow, the 
men were manly, and the women not a whit worse than 
they are now ; and woe be to the man that insulted 
one. A code of honour was then in existence, and 
every gentleman carried with him the means of enforcing 
it. Therefore, up to a certain limit, they were com- 
bative, and not being cigarette-smoking mashers, and 
not being overburdened with novels and periodicals, 
and club smoking and billiard rooms being unknown, 



HOCKLEY-IN-THE-HOLE. I39 

they enjoyed a more physical existence than is led by 
the young men of the theatrical stalls of the present 
day, and attended Sword and Cudgel playing, and Bull 
and Bear baiting, together with fighting an occasional 
main of Cocks. It might be very wrong ; but then 
they had not our advantages of being able to criticize 
the almost unhidden charms of the " chorus," or descant 
on the merits of a " lemon squash," so that, as man 
must have some employment, they acted after their 
lights, and I do not think we can fairly blame them. 

For Londoners, a favourite place, early in the 
eighteenth century, for rough sports, was Hockley-in- 
the-Hole. Here was bear and bull baiting for the 
public, a fact that was so well known, according to 
Gay,i that 

"Experienc'd Men, inur'd to City Ways, 
Need not the Caleiidar to count their Days. 
When through the Town, with slow and solemn Air, 
Led by the Nostril walks the muzzled Bear ; 
Behind him moves, majestically dull, 
The Pride of Hockley Hole, the surly Bull ; 
Learn hence the Periods of the Week to name, 
Mondays and Thursdays are the Days of Game." 

Even earlier than Gay, Hockley-in-the-Hole is 
mentioned by Butler in his " Hudibras " - in somewhat 
gruesome fashion : — 

"But Trulla straight brought on the Charge, 
And in the selfsame Limbo put 
The Knight and Squire, where he was shut. 
Where leaving them in Hockley-i'-th'-Hole, 
Their Bangs and Durance to condole." 

' "Trivia," book ii. ^ Book iii. line 1,000, Sec. 



140 Bear Baiting. 

But Butler also talks of Bear baiting, both in the 
first and second cantos of " Hudibras," especially in 
canto the first, where, beginning at line 6j^, he says: 

" But now a Sport more formidable 
Had rak'd together Village Rabble : 
'Twas an old Way of recreating — 
Which learned Butchers call Bear-Baiting : 
A bold advent'rous Exercise, 
With ancient Heroes in high Prize ; 
For Authors do affirm it came 
From Isthmian or Nemean Game ; 
Others derive it from the Bear 
That's fix'd in Northern Hemisphere, 
And round about the Pole does make 
A Circle like a Bear at Stake. 
That at the Chain's End wheels about. 
And overturns the Rabble Rout. 
For, after solemn Proclamation 
In the Bear's Name (as is the Fashion 
According to the Law of Arms, 
To keep men from inglorious Harms) 
That none presume to come so near 
As forty Foot of Stake of Bear ; 
If any yet be so foolhardy 
T' expose themselves to vain Jeopardy ; 
If they come wounded off, and lame. 
No honour's got by such a Maim ; 
Altho' the Bear gain much ; b'ing bound 
In Honour to make good his Ground, 
When he's engag'd and takes no Notice, 
If any press upon him, who 'tis. 
But let's them know, at their own Cost, 
That he intends to keep his Post." 

Bear baiting was so identified, as a sport, to the 



Bear Gardens. 141 

London Citizens who frequented Hockley-in-the-Hole, 
that we read that in 1709 Christopher Preston, who 
then kept the Bear Garden, was attacked and partly 
eaten by one of his own bears. 

Bear Gardens are proverbially rough, and this place 
was no exception ; but there were two others in London 
where bears were baited, one at Marrybone Fields (at 
the back of Soho Square), and at Tuttle or Tothill 
Fields, at Westminster — thus showing the popularity of 
the Sports, which was not declared illegal until 1835. 

Of course in these our days, we know nothing of 
bear baiting, and if a Pyrenean bear were now taken 
about the country, as I have frequently seen them, even 
if he " danced to the genteelest of tunes," his proprietor 
would be in danger of the judgment — some dear molly- 
coddling old woman in trousers, belonging to some 
special "faddy" society, being always ready to pro- 
secute. 

Bears not, at present, being indigenous to Britain, 
were naturally scarce, so the homely and offensive Bull 
had to afford rough sport to the multitude, and several 
towns now bear testimony to the popularity of the sport 
of bull baiting in their " Bull rings" (Birmingham, to 
wit). In the fourteenth century we know that even horses 
were baited with dogs, and as long as fox hunting, 
coursing, or wild stag hunting, are recognized as sports 
among us, I fail to see the superior cruelty of our 
ancestors. It may be that people imagine that the 
larger the animal, the greater the cruelty ; but I cannot 
see it. Anyhow, far earlier than the Bear garden of 
Hockley-in-the-Hole, both bear and bull baiting were 



142 Bear Baiting. 

not only popular, but aristocratic amusements. Erasmus, 
who visited England in Henry VIII. 's time, speaks of 
many herds of bears being kept for baiting ; and when 
Queen Mary visited her sister the Princess Elizabeth, 
they were " right well content " with the bear baiting. 
Nay, when she became Queen, Elizabeth was a great 
patron of the sport ; for when, on May 25, 1559, she 
entertained the French Ambassadors, as an after-dinner 
spectacle, she gave them some bull and bear baiting. 
Her delight in this diversion did not decrease with age, 
for, twenty-seven years later, she provided the same 
amusement for the delectation of the Danish Ambas- 
sador. Paul Hentzner, who visited England in 1598, 
speaking of this sport, says : — " There is still another 
Place, built in the Form of a Theatre, which serves for 
the baiting of Bulls and Bears ; they are fastened 
behind, and then worried by the great English Bull 
dogs ; but not without great Risque to the Dogs, from 
the Horns of the one, and the Teeth of the other ; and 
it sometimes happens they are killed upon the Spot; 
fresh ones are immediately supplied in the Place ot 
those that are wounded, or tired. To this Entertain- 
ment there often follows that of whipping a blinded 
Bear, which is performed by five or six Men standing 
circularly with Whips, which they exercise upon him 
without any Mercy, as he cannot escape from them 
because of his Chain ; he defends himself with all his 
Force and Skill, throwing down all who come within 
his Reach, and are not active enough to get out of it, 
and tearing the Whips out of their Hands, and break- 
ing them." 



Bull Baiting. 143 

And, again are we indebted to a foreigner for a de- 
scription of a bull baiting, thus realizing Burns' aspiration 
seeing " oursen as others see us," vide Misson. 

" Here follows the Manner of those Bull Baitings 
which are so much talk'd of: They tie a Rope to the Root 
of the Ox or Bull, and fasten the other End of the Cord 
to an Iron Ring fix'd to a Stake driven into the Ground ; 
so that this Cord being 1 5 Foot long, the Bull is con- 
iin'd to a Sphere of about 30 Foot Diameter. Several 
Butchers, or other Gentlemen, that are desirous to exer- 
cise their Dogs, stand round about, each holding his 
own by the Ears ; and, when the Sport begins, they let 
loose one of the Dogs ; The Dog runs at the Bull : the 
Bull immovable, looks down upon the Dog with an Eve 
of Scorn, and only turns a Horn to him to hinder him 
from coming near : the Dog is not daunted at this, he 
runs round him, and tries to get beneath his Belly, in 
order to seize him by the Muzzle, or the Dew lap, or the 
pendant Glands : The Bull then puts himself into a 
Posture of Defence ; he beats the Ground with his Feet, 
which he joins together as close as possible, and his chief 
Aim is not to gore the Dog with the Point of his Horn, 
but to slide one of them under the Dog's Belly (who 
creeps close to the Ground to hinder it) and to throw 
him so high in the Air that he may break his Neck in 
the Fall. This often happens : When the Dog thinks 
he is sure of fixing his Teeth, a turn of the Horn, which 
seems to be done with all the Negligence in the World, 
gives him a Sprawl thirty Foot high, and puts him in 
danger of a damnable Squelch when he comes down. 
This danger would be unavoidable, if the Dog's Friends 



144 Bull Baiting. 

were not ready beneath him, some with their Backs to 
give him a soft Reception, and others with long Poles 
which they offer him slant ways, to the Intent that, 
sliding down them, it may break the Force of his Fall. 
Notwithstanding all this care, a Toss generally makes 
him sing to a very scurvy Tune, and draw his Phiz 
into a pitiful Grimace : But, unless he is totally stunn'd 
with the Fall, he is sure to crawl again towards the Bull, 
with his old Antipathy, come on't what will. Some- 
times a second Frisk into the Air disables him for ever 
from playing his old Tricks ; But, sometimes, too, he 
fastens upon his Enemy, and when he has seiz'd him 
with his Eye teeth, he sticks to him like a Leech, and 
would sooner die than leave his Hold. Then the Bull 
bellows, and bounds, and Kicks about to shake off the 
Dog ; by his Leaping the Dog seems to be no Manner 
of Weight to him, tho in all Appearance he puts him to 
great Pain. In the End, either the Dog tears out the 
Piece he has laid Hold on, and falls, or else remains 
fix'd to him, with an Obstinacy that would never end, 
if they did not pull him off. To call him away, would 
be in vain ; to give him a hundred blows would be as 
much so ; you might cut him to Pieces Joint by Joint 
before he would let him loose. What is to be done 
then ? While some hold the Bull, others thrust Staves 
into the Dog's Mouth, and open it by main Force. 
This is the only Way to part them." 

But the dogs did not always get the best of it — many 
a one was gored and killed by the bull. Cruelty, how- 
ever, would scarcely rest content with simple bull baiting. 
It was improved upon, as we see in the following 



Bull Baiting. 



H5 



advertisement. " At the Bear Garden in Hockley in 
the Hole, 17 lo. This is to give notice to all Gentle- 
men, Gamsters, and Others, That on this present Mon- 
day is a Match to be fought by two Dogs, one from 
Newgate Market against one of Honey Lane Market, at 
a Bull, for a Guinea to be spent. Five Let goes out 
off Hand, which goes fairest and farthest in. Wins all ; 
like wise a Green Bull to be baited, which was never 
baited before, and a Bull to be turned loose with Fire 
works all over him ; also a Mad Ass to be baited ; 
With variety of Bull baiting, and Bear baiting ; and a 
Dog to be drawn up with Fire works." ^ 

I cannot, however, consider this as an ordinary pro- 
gramme, and it was evidently so considered at the time ; 
for a book was advertised in the 'Tatler, January '^-^, 
1709(1710) : — *' This Day is published The Bull Baiting 

or Sach 11^ dressed up in Fire works ; lately brought 

over from the Bear Garden in Southwark, and exposed 
for the Diversion of the Citizens of London : at 6d. a 
piece." But Steele in No. cxxxiv. of the Tatlery con- 
demns the cruelty of the age, and says he has *' often 
wondered that we do not lay aside a custom which 
makes us appear barbarous to nations much more rude 
and unpolished than ourselves. Some French writers 
have represented this diversion of the common people 
much to our disadvantage, and imputed it to natural 
fierceness and cruelty of temper, as they do some other 
entertainments peculiar to our nation : I mean those 
elegant diversions of bull baiting and prize fighting, 
with the like ingenious recreations of the Bear-garden. 

' Harl. MSS. 5931, 46. ^ j)r^ Sacheverell. 

II 



146 Bull Baiting. 

I wish I knew how to answer this reproach which is cast 
upon us, and excuse the death of so many innocent 
cocks, bulls, dogs, and bears, as have been set together 
by the ears, or died untimely deaths, only to make us 
sport." 

Of all the places where these cruel pastimes were 
practised, certainly Hockley-in-the-Hole, bore off the 
palm for blackguardism ; and it is thus mentioned in an 
essay of Steele's in the Tatler (No. xxviii.), " I have myself 
seen Prince Eugene make Catinat fly from the backside 
of Grays Inn Lane to Hockley-in-the-Hole, and not 
give over the pursuit, until obliged to leave the Bear 
Garden, on the right, to avoid being borne down by 
fencers, wild bulls, and monsters, too terrible for the 
encounter of any heroes, but such as their lives are live- 
lihood." To this mention of Hockley-in-the-Hole, 
there is, in an edition of 1789, a footnote (p. 274), 
" There was a sort of amphitheatre here, dedicated 
originally to bull-baiting, bear-baiting, prize fighting, 
and all other sorts of rough-game ; and it was not only 
attended by butchers, drovers, and great crowds of all 
sorts of mobs, but likewise by Dukes, Lords, Knights, 
Squires, &c. There were seats particularly set apart for 
the quality, ornamented with old tapestry hangings, into 
which none were admitted under half a crown at least. 
Its neighbourhood was famous for sheltering thieves, pick- 
pockets, and infamous women ; and for breeding bull- 
dogs." 

Bull baiting died hard, and in one famous debate in 
the House of Commons, on 24th of May, 1802, much 
eloquence was wasted on the subject, both pro. and con., 



Sword Play. 147 

one hon. gentleman (the Right Hon. W. Windham, 
M.P. for Norwich), even trying to prove that the bull 
enjoyed the baiting. Said he, " It would be ridiculous to 
say he felt no pain ; yet, when on such occasions he ex- 
hibited no signs of terror, it was a demonstrable proof 
that he felt some pleasure." Other hon. gentlemen de- 
fended it on various grounds, and, although Wilberforce 
and Sheridan spoke eloquently in favour of the abolition 
of the practice, they were beaten, on a division, by which 
decision Parliament inflicted a standing disgrace, for 
many years, upon the English Nation. 

Hockley-in-the-Hole was not only the temple of S. S. 
Taurus et Canis ; but the genus Homo, type gladiator, 
was there in his glory. It was there that sword play 
was best shown, but we do not hear much of it before 
William the Third, or Anne's reign, or that of George 
I., when the redoubtable Figg was the Champion swords- 
man of England. As Hockley-in-the-Hole belongs to 
the Fleet River, so do these gladiatorial exhibitions 
belong to Hockley-in-the-Hole. I have treated of 
them once,^ and on looking back, with the knowledge 
that many of my readers may not have seen that book, 
and having nothing better in the space allotted to this 
peculiar spot, to off^er them (for I then drew my best 
on the subject) I quote, with apologies, from myself 

" In those days, when every one with any pretensions 
to gentility wore a sword, and duelling was rife, it is 
no wonder that exhibitions of skill in that weapon were 
favourites. Like modern prize fights, they drew to- 

^ " Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne," by John Ashton 
{Chatto and Windus). 



148 Sword Play. 

gether all the scum and rifF-raff, as well as the gentry, 
who were fond of so-called sport. They were dis- 
reputable affairs, and were decried by every class of 
contemporary. The preliminaries were swagger and 
bounce, as one or two out of a very large number will 
show. I 

" ' At the Bear Garden in Hockley-in-the-Hole. 

'* ' A Tryal of Skill to be Performed between two 
Profound Masters of the Noble Science of Defence on 
Wednesday next, being this 13th of the instant July, 
1709, at Two of the Clock precisely. 

" ' I, George Gray, born in the City of Norwich, who 
has Fought in most Parts of the IVest Indies ^ viz., 
Jamaica J Barbadoes, and several other Parts of the 
World ; in all Twenty-five times, upon a Stage, and 
was never yet Worsted, and now lately come to London ; 
do invite James Harris, to meet and Exercise at these 
following Weapons, viz. : 

Back Sword, \ (Single Falchon 

Sword and Dagger, \- \ and 

Sword and Buckler,] [Case of Falchons.' 

" ' I, James Harris, Master of the said Noble Science 
of Defence, who formerly rid in the Horse Guards, and 
hath Fought a Hundred and Ten Prizes, and never 
left a Stage to any Man ; will not fail, (God Willing) 
to meet this brave and bold Inviter, at the Time and 
Place appointed, desiring Sharp swords, and from him 
no Favour. 

' Harl. MSS. 5931, 50. 



Sword Play. 



[49 



'^ ' !^°NoU. No persons to be upon the Stage but the 
Seconds. Vivat Regina.' " 

This is not the only available advertisement, but it 
is a typical one, and will serve for all. 

'^ The challenger would wager some twenty or thirty 
pounds, and the stakes would be deposited and delivered 
to the Challenged : the challenger receiving the money ^ 
taken at the door, or as we should term it, gate money ; 
which, frequently, twice or thrice exceeded the value 
of the stakes. 

" There is one remarkable exception, I have found, to 
this monetary arrangement, but it is the only one in 
my experience. For, in an advertisement of the usual 
character, there comes : ' Note. — That John Stokes 
fights James Harris, and Thomas Hesgate fights 
John Terriwest, three Bouts each at Back Sword, for 
Love.' 

"Preliminaries arranged, handbills printed and dis- 
tributed, the Combat duly advertised in at least one 
newspaper, and the day arrived ; like the bull and bear, 
the combatants paraded the streets, preceded by a drum, 
having their sleeves tucked up, and their Swords in 
hand. All authorities agree that the fights were, to a 
certain extent, serious.- ' The Edge of the Sword was 
a little blunted, and the Care of the Prize-fighters was 
not so much to avoid wounding each other, as to avoid 
doing it dangerously : Nevertheless, as they were 
oblig'd to fight till some Blood was shed, without which 
no Body would give a Farthing for the Show, they 
were sometimes forc'd to play a little ruffly. I once 

^ De. Sorbiere. ^ Misson. 



150 Sword Play. 

saw a much deeper and longer Cut given than was 
intended.' 

" Ward 1 gives a short description of one of these 
fights : * Great Preparations at the Bear Garden all 
Morning, for the noble Tryal of Skill that is to be 
play'd in the Afternoon. Seats fill'd and crowded by 
Two. Drums beat, Dogs yelp, Butchers and Foot 
soldiers clatter their Sticks ; At last the two heroes, 
in their fine borrow'd Holland Shirts, mount the Stage 
about Three ; Cut large Collops out of one another, 
to divert the Mob, and Make Work for the Surgeons : 
Smoking, Swearing, Drinking, Thrusting, Justling, 
Elbowing, Sweating, Kicking, Cufling, all the while the 
Company stays.' 

Steele gives a good account of a prize fight : - ' The 
Combatants met in the Middle of the Stage, and, shaking 
Hands, as removing all Malice, they retired with much 
Grace to the Extremities of it ; from whence they 
immediately faced about, and approached each other. 
Miller^ with an Heart full of Resolution, Buck, with 
a watchful, untroubled Countenance ; Buck regarding 
principally his own Defence, Miller chiefly thoughtful 
of his Opponent. It is not easie to describe the many 
Escapes and imperceptible Defences between Two Men 
of Quick Eyes, and ready Limbs ; but Miller's Heat 
laid him open to the Rebuke of the calm Buck, by 
a large Cut on the Forehead. Much Effusion of Blood 
covered his Eyes in a Moment, and the Huzzas of 
the Crowd undoubtedly quickened his Anguish. The 

^ " Comical View of London and Westminster." 
2 Spcctraor, No. 436. 



Sword Play. 151 

Assembly was divided into Parties upon their different 
ways of Fighting : while a poor Nymph in one of the 
Galleries apparently suffered for Miller^ and burst into 
a Flood of Tears. As soon as his Wound was wrapped 
up, he came on again in a little Rage, which still dis- 
abled him further. But what brave Man can be 
wounded with more Patience and Caution ? The next 
was a warm eager Onset, which ended in a decisive 
Stroke on the Left Leg of Miller. The Lady in the 
Gallery, during the second Strife, covered her face ; and 
for my Part, I could not keep my thoughts from being 
mostly employed on the Consideration of her unhappy 
Circumstances that Moment, hearing the Clash of 
Swords, and apprehending Life or Victory concerned 
her Lover in every Blow, but not daring to satisfie 
herself on whom they fell. The Wound was exposed 
to the View of all who could delight in it, and sowed 
up on the Stage. The surly Second of Miller declared 
at this Time, that he would, that Day Fortnight, fight 
Mr. Buck at the Same Weapons, declaring himself the 
Master of the renowned German ; but Buck denied him 
the Honour of that Courageous Disciple, and, asserting 
that he himself had taught that Champion, accepted the 
Challenge." 

In No. 449, of the Spectator, is the following letter 
re Hockley-in-the-Hole : — 

" Mr. Spectator, — I was the other day at the Bear- 
garden, in hopes to have seen your short face ; but not 
being so fortunate, I must tell you by way of letter, 
that there is a mystery among the gladiators which has 



152 Sword Play. 

escaped your spectatorial penetration. For, being in 
a Box at an Alehouse, near that renowned Seat or 
Honour above mentioned, I overheard two Masters of 
the Science agreeing to quarrel on the next Opportunity, 
This was to happen in the Company of a Set of the 
Fraternity of Basket Hilts, who were to meet that 
Evening. When that was settled, one asked the other, 
Will you give Cuts, or receive ? the other answered, 
Receive. It was replied. Are you a passionate Man ? 
No, provided you cut no more, nor no deeper than 
we agree. I thought it my duty to acquaint you with 
this, that the people may not pay their money for 
lighting, and be cheated. 

"Your humble servant, 

"Scabbard Rusty." 

It was not sword play alone that was the favourite 
pastime at Hockley-in-the-Hole, there was cudgel 
playing — and fighting with " the Ancient Weapon 
called the Threshing FlaiL" There is an advertisement 
extant of a fight with this weapon between John Terre- 
west and John Parkes of Coventry, whose tombstone 
affirms that he fought three hundred and fifty battles in 
different parts of Europe. Fisticuffs also came pro- 
minently into vogue early in the eighteenth century, and 
it is needless to say that Hockley was a favourite place 
with its professors. The site of the Bear Garden is 
said to be occupied by the ^' Coach and Horses," 29, 
Ray Street, Farringdon Road. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



IN connection with the Fleet, I have omitted to mention 
one locality, in this immediate neighbourhood, which 
certainly deserves notice from its associations, namely 
Laystall Street and Mount Pleasant ; for here it was, 
that a fort to command Gray's Inn Road, was built, 
when the lines for the protection of the City were 
formed by order of Parliament in 1643 — at the time 
when it was feared that Prince Rupert was coming to 
attack it. For nearly, if not quite, a hundred years 
those lines of defence were partially visible ; and, 
certainly, among others, one was at Mount Pleasant. 
It is a somewhat curious thing that the names survive. 
A Laystall meant a dung or dust heap, and, after this 
artificial mound was utilized for the community its 
name was euphemised into Mount Pleasant, which it 
bears to this day. 

This work of intrenchment was almost impressment, 
for we can hardly consider that it was voluntary, when 



154 Mount Pleasant. 

we read in a newspaper of 1643, ^^at, by order of the 
Parliament, " many thousands of men and women 
(good housekeepers), their children, and servants, went 
out of the several parishes of London with spades, 
shovels, pickaxes, and baskets, and drums and colours 
before them ; some of the chief men of every parish 
marching before them, and so went into the fields, and 
worked hard all day in digging and making of trenches, 
from fort to fort, wherebie to intrench the citie round 
from one end to the other, on this side of the Thames ; 
and late at night the company came back in like manner 
they went out, and the next day a many more went, 
and so they continued daily, with such cheerfulnesse 
that the whole will be finished ere many dayes." And 
so these works of fortification went on, encouraged by 
the presence of a member of the Common Council, and 
some of the Trained Bands (the City Militia of that 
time) and it was a work in which all classes joined — 
willingly, or not, I know not — but the latter, probably, 
as the City of London was generally loyal to its king, 
although on occasion, the dwellers therein, knew how 
to hold their own in defence of their prerogatives. 
But the fear of Prince Rupert, and his familiar spirit — 
the white poodle dog " Boy " (who was killed, after 
passing through many a battle-field unscathed, at 
Marston Moor, July 2, 1644), may possibly have had 
something to do with it. Of course we know that 
tailors and shoemakers, are mostly radicals, and socialists 
in politics, probably on account of their sedentary work, 
where political discussion is rife, and from their constant 
inter-association, not mixing much with the outer world ; 



Saffron Hill. 155 

therefore we can scarcely wonder that on the 5th of 
June, 1643, that some five thousand or six thousand 
Tailors went out to help intrench the City against the 
redoubted Prince, and that, afterwards, the shoemakers 
followed their example. Two thousand porters also 
helped in the work. Most probably, a moral " shrewd 
privie nipp " was administered to most people by those 
then in power, and they were forced into taking an 
active part in raising the fortifications, irrespective of 
their being either Cavaliers or Roundheads. 

At all events, the fort at Mount Pleasant was raised, 
although never used, and it belongs to the history of 
the Fleet River — as, close by, a little affluent joined it. 
Gardens sloped down to its banks, notably those of 
the great Priory of St. John's Clerkenwell, and, like 
Bermondsey, with its " Cherry Gardens " — the names 
of " Vineyard Walk " and "^ Pear Tree Court " bear 
testimony to the fruitfulness of this part of London. 
There is also '' Vine Street " in Saffron Hill, which 
latter name is extremely suggestive of the growth of 
a plant which, in old times, was much used both in 
medicine and cooking. It was called " The Liberty 
of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Place" — 
which was in the Manor of Portpool. 

Saffron Hill, nowadays, is the home of the Italian 
organ-grinder, who, although not unknown to the police, 
is undoubtedly a better citizen than previous dwellers 
therein. Specially was West Street, or Chick Lane, as 
it was formerly called, a neighbourhood to be avoided 
by all honest men. It ran both east and west of the 
Fleet, which it crossed by a bridge. Stow calls it 



156 Saffron Hill. 

Chicken Lane, but it certainly was not inhabited by 
young and innocent birds. It ran into Field Lane, of 
unsavoury memory, and now done away with. 

This was the state of West Street, as exemplified by 
a cutting from the Morning Herald of Feb. 1 1, i 834 : 

" Yesterday an inquest was held at the Horse Shoe and 
Magpie, Saffron Hill, before Thomas Stirling, Esq., 
Coroner, on the body of James Parkinson, aged 36, who 
came by his death under the following circumstances. 

" The Jury proceeded to view the body of the de- 
ceased, which lay in the upper part of a low lodging- 
house for travellers, in West Street, Saffron Hill. It 
was in a high state of decomposition, and a report was 
generally circulated that he had come by his death by 
unfair means. 

" Mary Wood being sworn, deposed that she was the 
landlady of the house in West Street, which she let out 
in lodgings. The deceased occasionally lodged with 
her, and he was a dealer in cat's meat. On Tuesday 
night last he came home and asked her for a light, and 
proceeded to his bedroom. On the Wednesday witness 
proceeded upstairs to make the beds, when she saw the 
deceased lying on his bed apparently asleep, but she did 
not speak to him. On the Thursday she proceeded to 
the upper part of the house for the same purpose, when 
she again saw the deceased lying as if asleep, but she 
did not disturb him, and he was ultimately discovered 
to be a corpse, and his face quite black. 

" Juror. Pray, how many beds are there in the room 
where the deceased slept ? 



Old House in West Street. 157 

*' IVitness. Only eight, and please you, Sir. 

" Indeed, and how many persons are in the habit of 
sleeping in the same apartment.? — There are generally 
two or three in a bed, but the deceased had a bed to 
himself. 

" Very comfortable truly. Is it not strange that none 
of his fellow lodgers ascertained that he was dead.'' — 
No, Sir, they go in and out without seeming to care for 
each other. 

" Do you mean to say, if a poor man was to take a 
lodging at your house, you would let him lie for up- 
wards of 48 hours without inquiring whether he required 
nourishment ? — Why, Sir, I have known some of my 
lodgers, who have been out upon the spree to lay in bed 
for three and four days together, without a bit or a sup, 
and then they have gone out to their work as well and 
as hearty as ever they was in their lives ; I have known 
it often to have been done. There was plenty of grub 
in the house if he liked to have asked for it ; but I 
thought if I asked him to have victuals he would be 
offended, as he might receive it as a hint for the few 
nights' lodging that he owed me. 

" Mr. Appleby, the parish surgeon, proved that the 
deceased died a natural death, and the Jury returned a 
verdict of ' Died by the visitation of God.' " 

There was an old house in West Street, pulled down 
in April, 1840, which tradition affirmed to have been 
the residence of the infamous Jonathan Wild, and, when 
destroyed, its age was considered to be about three 
hundred years. At one time it was the Red Lion Inn ; 



158 Old House in West Street. 

but for a hundred years prior to Its demolition it was a 
low lodging-house. Owing to the numerous facilities 
for secretion and escape, it was the haunt of coiners, 
secret distillers, thieves, and perhaps worse. There were 
trap doors connected with the Fleet River through which 
booty might be thrown, or a man get away, if hard 
pressed ; a secret door in a garret led to the next house, 
and there were many hiding places — in one of which a 
chimney sweep named Jones, who had escaped from 
Newgate, lay hidden for about six weeks, although the 
house was repeatedly searched by the police. 

And there was Field Lane too, which was the house 
of the " Fence," or receiver of stolen goods. It was 
from this interesting locality that Charles Dickens drew 
that wonderful study of Fagin — who was a real character. 
Cruikshank has made him as immortal, but Kenny 
Meadows tried to delineate him in a clever series which 
appeared in Bell's Life in London^ under the title of 
" Gallery of Comicalities." 

" Welcome, Old Star, of Saffron hill. 
Of villainy a sample bright, 
Awake to Prigs, and plunder still, 
Thou merry, ancient Israelite ! 

Thy face is rough, with matted shag, 
Foul is thy form, old shrivell'd wretch. 

How cunningly you eye the swag, 
Harden'd purveyor to Jack Ketch ! 

Incrusted with continued crime, 

Your hopeful pupils still employ — 
Thou wert indeed a Tutor prime 

To Oliver, the Workhouse Boy. 



Fagin. 

Poor Lad ! condemn'd to fate's hard stripes, 
To herd with Fagin's plundering pack ; 

And learn the art of filching wipes, 

From Charley Bates, and Dawkins Jack. 

To hear 'The Dodger' patter slang, 
With knowing wink, and accent glib, 

Or learn from ' Sikes's ' ruffian gang, 
In slap up style to crack a crib. 



59 




I'AGIN, THE JEW, 



Hail, Fagin ! Patriarch of the whole ! 

Kind Patron of these knowing ones — 
In thee we trace a kindred soul 

Of honest Ikey Solomon's ! 



i6o 



Field Lane. 



We leave you to your courses vile, 

For conscience you have none, old Codger ! 

And in our next we'll trace in style,' 
The mug of Jack, the artful dodger^' 

The artistic merit of this poetry is nil^ and my only 
excuse is the introduction of a forgotten sketch by a 
dead artist, who, in his day was popular and famous. 
Who, for instance, remembering Leech's pictures in 
Punchy would think that this illustration ever came 



W6ot;3 




FIELD LANE NEGOTIATIONS; OR, A SPECIMEN OF "FINE DRAWING." 



Field Lane. i6i 

from his pencil ? but it did, and from Bell's Life in 
London ; and so did another, of two children fighting in 
Chick Lane, whilst their parents, the father with a 
broken nose, and the mother with a black eye, look on 
approvingly. 

" Field Lane Negotiations ; or, a Specimen of 
' Fine Drawing.' Thish ish vot I callsh * caushe and 
effect ; ' caushe if vee thidn't buy, no bothy vood shell, 
and if vee thidn't shell, nobothy vood buy ; and vot's 
more, if peoplesh thidn't have foglesh, vy, nobothy could 
prig em " (^S"^^ Abrahams on the " Economy of Wipes "). 

Those were the days of large and valuable silk 
Bandana handkerchiefs, and the story used to be told 
that you might have your pocket picked of your hand- 
kerchief at one end of Field Lane, and buy it again at 
the other end, with the marking taken out. 

Long before Fagin's time, however, there was a school 
for young thieves in this neighbourhood, vide Gentle- 
man's Magazine (1765), vol. xxxv. p. 145. 

" Four boys, detected in picking pockets, were ex- 
amined before the Lord Mayor, when one was admitted 
as evidence, who gave an account, that a man who kept a 
publichouse near Fleet Market^ had a club of boys, whom 
he instructed in picking pockets, and other iniquitous 
practices ; beginning first with teaching them to pick a 
handchief out of his own pocket, and next his watch ; so 
that, at last, the evidence was so great an adept, that he 
got the publican's watch four times in one evening, when 
he swore he was as perfect as one of twenty years* 
practice. The pilfering out of shops was his next art ; 

12 



i62 Thieves. 

his instructions to his pupils were, that as many chandlers, 
or other shops, as had hatches,'' one boy was to knock 
for admittance for some trifle, whilst another was lying 
on his belly, close to the hatch, who when the boy came 
out, the hatch on jar, and the owner withdrawn, was to 
crawl in, on all fours, and take the tills or anything else 
he could meet with, and to retire in the same manner. 
Breaking into shops by night was another article which 
was to be effected thus : as walls of brick under shop 
windows are very thin, two of them were to lie under 
a window as destitute beggars, asleep to passers by, but, 
when alone, were provided with pickers to pick the 
mortar out of the bricks, and so on till they had opened 
a hole big enough to go in, when one was to lie, as if 
asleep, before the breach, till the other accomplished his 
purpose." 

' Dwarf doors. 





CHAPTER XIV. 



CLOSE by Saffron Hill, and Fleet Lane, is Hatton 
Garden, or Ely Place, formerly the seats of the 
Bishops of Ely ; which Shakespeare has made so 
familiar to us in Richard III. act iii. sc. 4. " My 
Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good 
strawberries in your garden there ; I do beseeech you, 
send for some of them." ^ In Queen Elizabeth's time 
an arrangement was effected so that her favourite 
Chancellor Hatton, who " led the brawls, the Seal and 
Maces danc'd before him," - should have this little 
estate, the gardens of which sloped down to the Fleet 

* Hollinshed says — speaking of a Council at the Tower, relative 
to the Coronation of Edward V., at which the Protector presided, 
"After a little talking with them, he said unto the Bishop of Ely, 
' My Lord, you have verie good strawberries at your garden in 
Holborne, I require you let us have a messe of them.' ' Gladlie, 
my Lord,' quoth he, ' would God I had some better thing as readie 
to your pleasure as that ! ' And there withall, in all haste, he sent 
his servant for a messe of strawberries." 

= Gray, "y/ long Story." 



X 



164 Bleeding Hart Yard. 

River. Hence the Bishop of Ely's place assumed the 
name of Hatton Garden. 

There is a legend — and I give it as such — that this 
Sir Christopher Hatton married a beautiful gipsy girl, 
who bewitched him ; and the price she had to pay, 
according to her compact with the Evil One, was her 
soul, and body, after a given time. When that arrived, 
the Devil duly came for her, and seizing her, bore her 
aloft, and, whilst in the air, he rent her in pieces, and 
threw her still palpitating heart to earth. Where it 
fell was, for years, known as Bleeding Heart I'a7'd ; but 
now, the authorities, whoever they may be, have altered 
it to Bleedmg Hart^ which, in all probability was the 
cognizance of the family who resided there. 

This Ely Place had very extensive premises, consisting 
of numerous buildings, a Hall, Quadrangle, Cloisters, 
Chapel, a field, the historic garden, cum multis aiiis ; 
and they occupied a large space. Only the Chapel now 
remains, and that has had a curious career. At one 
time marriages were celebrated there, as at the Fleet, 
presumably that it was not under the jurisdiction of the 
Bishop of London, but this fiction was overruled in the 
case of Barton v. Wells in the Consistory Court, Nov. 
17, 1789, when Sir Wm. Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell) 
decided that Ely Chapel was under the authority of the 
Bishop of London, and that Curates thereto must be 
licensed by him. 

The Bishops came to London in former times, as 
now, and their residences, in several cases were known 
as Places^ or Palaces. Thus, there was Winchester 
Place, in Southwark, now the headquarters of the Fire 



i 



Ely Place. 165 

Brigade — formerly the palace of the Bishops of Win- 
chester, a city which was once the metropolis of England, 
where Parliaments were held, and whose Bishops to 
this day are titular Prelates of the Garter. The Bishop 
of Bangor, who, although his see claims to be as old as 
any, has not the richest bishopric, had a palace in Shoe 
Lane, Holborn, and the Bishop of Lincoln also lived in 
Holborn. 

The first mention of the connection of the Bishops 
of Ely, is in the will of John de Kirkeby (who was 
appointed Bishop in 1286), and whose will was proved 
in 1290, or 18 Edward L,and in the Close Roll of that 
year, is the following (in Latin, of course) : 

" For the Executors of the Will of the Bishop of Ely. 
" Whereas the King hath understood that John, late 
Bishop of Ely, deceased, of pious memory, hath in his 
last will bequeathed his houses which he had in the 
parish of St. Andrew near Holeburn, in the suburbs, 
and within the liberty of the city of London, to God, 
and the Church of St. Etheldreda ^ of Ely, and his 
successors, bishops of the same place, so that they 
should pay the debts which the same deceased owed for 
those houses to Gregory de Rokesle, the King's Citizen, 
of London ; Ralph de Sandwich, warden of the said 
City, is commanded, that, without delay, he deliver 
the aforesaid houses, with appurtenances, which are in 
the King's hand and custody, by reason of the death of 
the aforesaid bishop, thereof to make execution of the 
said will. 

' Afterwards Anglicised into Audrey. 



i66 John of Gaunt. 

" Witness the King at Westminster on the i8th day 
of July." 

The next bishop — WilHam de Luda (who must have 
been a person of some distinction, for he had previously 
held the Deanery of St. Martin's le Grand, and the 
Archdeaconry of Durham, besides being Chamberlain, 
Treasurer, and Keeper of the Wardrobe to the King) 
bequeathed more property to the See, and in all likeli- 
hood, built the Chapel of St. Etheldreda, which, how- 
ever, was most probably considerably modified by a later 
Bishop, Thomas de Arundel, who held the See from 
1374 to 1388 — as the windows, mouldings, &c., now 
existing show, being about as good an example, as 
possible, ot Decorated^ or Second Pointed architecture. 

" Old lohn of Gaunt^ time-honoured Lancaster " lived 
at Ely Place for a time — in all likelihood after his 
palace in the Savoy, had been destroyed by rioters. 
This fact is noted by Shakespeare in " The life and 
death of King Richard the Second," act i. sc. 4 : 

" Busby. Old lohn of Gaunt is vcric sick, my Lord, 
Sodainly taken, and hath sent post haste 
To entreat your Majesty to visit him. 
Richard. Where lyes he ? 
Busby. At Ely house." 

Hollinshed, also, under date 1399, says: "In the 
meane time, the Duke of Lancaster departed out of this 
life at the Bishop of Elie's place, in Holborne, and lieth 
buried in the Cathedrall Church of St. Paule, in London, 
on the north side of the high altar, by the Ladie Blanche, 
his first wife." 



Ely Chapel. 167 

The premises were of very great extent, as appears 
by plans taken before its almost total demolition in 
1772. Under the Chapel was a cellar, or under croft — 
divided into two — and this seems to have caused some 
inconvenience in the seventeenth century, for Malcolm, 
in his " Londinium Redivivum " (vol. ii. p. 236) says: 
" One half of the crypt under the chapel, which had 
been used for interments, was then frequented as a 
drinking-place, where liquor was retailed ; and the 
intoxication of the people assembled, often interrupted 
the offices of religion above them." And this state- 
ment seems to be borne out by a reference to Had. 
MSS. 3789, et seq., where it says : " Even half of 
the vault or burying place under the Chapel is made 
use of as a public cellar (or was so very lately) to sell 
drink in, there having been frequently revellings heard 
there during Divine Service." 

More curious things than this happened to Ely Place, 
for the Journals of the House of Commons inform us 
how, on January 3, 1642-3, "The palace was this day 
ordered to be converted into a prison, and John Hunt, 
Sergeant-at-arms, appointed keeper during the pleasure 
of the House." He was, at the same time, commanded 
to take care that the gardens, trees, chapel, and its 
windows, received no injury. A sufficient sum for 
repairs was granted from the revenues of the see. 

Again, on March i, 1660: "Ordered that it be 
referred to a Committee to consider how, and in what 
manner, the said widows, orphans, and maim'd soldiers, 
at Ely House, may be provided for, and paid, for the 
future, with the least prejudice, and most ease to the 



i68 Ely Chapel. 

nation ; and how a weekly revenue may be settled for 
their maintenance ; and how the maimed soldiers may 
be disposed of, so as the nation may be eased of the 
charge, and how they may be provided of a preaching 
minister." 

There were always squabbles about this property, 
and it nearly fell into ruin; but in 1772 an Act of 
Parliament was passed (Geo. Ill,, an. 12, cap. 43) 
entitled " An Act for vesting Ely House^ in Holbourn, 
in His Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, and for 
applying the Purchase Money, with another Sum 
therein mentioned, in the purchasing of a Freehold 
Piece of Ground in Dover Street, and in the building, 
and fitting up another House thereon, for the fliture 
Residence of the Bishops oi Ely, and the Surplus to the 
Benefit of the See ; and for other Purposes therein 
mentioned." And the town residence of the Bishop 
of Ely is now 37, Dover Street, Piccadilly. This little 
bargain was the sale to the Crown of Ely Place for 
j^6,500, and a perpetual annuity of £100 to the Bishop 
of Ely and his successors. 

The site and materials were purchased by a Mr. 
Charles Cole, an architect and builder, and he built 
Ely Place, Holborn. The chapel was let, and, even- 
tually, to the Welsh Episcopalians of London. But the 
property got into Chancery, and the estate was ordered 
to be sold ; and it was sold on January 28, 1874, and 
the chapel alone fetched ^^5,250. As there was no 
stipulation as to its purchase by any particular religious 
body, it was bought by the Roman Catholics, and is 
now St. Etheldreda's Church, Convent, and schools. 



M 









i'*'* 






/'■ 




lyo TuRNMiLL Brook. 

Apropos of Ely House, when Bishop Coxe demurred 
at surrendering the property of his see to Hatton, 
Queen EHzabeth wrote him that famous letter, begin- 
ning " Proud Prelate," and telling him that, if he did 
not do as he was told, she, who had made him what he 
was, could unmake him, and if he did not immediately 
comply, she would unfrock him — signing this very 
characteristic and peremptory epistle, " Yours, as you 
demean yourself, Elizabeth." 

On the other or east side of the Fleet was a tributary 
brook called Turnmill brook — a name now surviving 
in Turnmill Street — which, even in this century, drove 
flour and flatting mills, and we have indisputable evi- 
dence of its industrial powers, in an advertisement in 
the Daily Courant September 17, 17 14, which calls 
attention to a house in Bowling (Green) Alley, ^ Turn- • 
mill Street, which had the power of utilizing " a common 
sewer with a good stream, and a good current, for pur- 
poses of a Mill ; " and it was on Turnmill Brook that 
Cave, the publisher, in 1740, went into an unprofitable | 
partnership with one Lewis Paul, of Birmingham, t' 
work a mill for the utilization of a patent taken out b\ 
Paul for a " Machine to spin wool or cotton into thread, 
yarn, or worsted." This experiment, however, was not 
a success. 

The Fleet flowing to its bourne,- the Thames, was 
bridged over at Holborn. Stow says : " Oldbourne 
bridge, over the said river of Wels more towards tht 
north, was so called, of a bourn that sometimes ran 

^ There is now Bowling Grec?i Street, Farringdon Street. 
^ See next two pages. 



The Fleet. 171 

down Oldbourne hill into the said river. This bridge 




of stone, like as Fleet bridge from Ludgate West, 



172 



The Fleet. 



serveth for passengers with Carriage, or otherwise, from 
Newgate toward the west and by north." This was 
written in 1598. 





-^mM 'i^yj^l Ji^lM^^ 




After the great fire of 1666 the Fleet was widened, 
and canalized, from the Thames, to Holborn Bridge; 
thence, to its source, it took its natural course, and, 
although there were then three bridges over it, from 



HoLBORN Bridge. 173 

Holborn to Nev/gate Street, set close, side by side, yet 
it was considered too narrow for the traffic, as we see 
in an Act of Parliament passed in 1670 (22 Car. II., 
cap. 11), entitled "An additional Act for the Rebuild- 
ing of the City of London, Uniting of Parishes, and 
Rebuilding of the Cathedral and Parochial Churches 
within the said City." Section 7 says : " And, whereas 
the Way or Passage of Holborn-Bridge is now too strait, 
or incommodious for the many Carriages and Passengers 
daily using and frequenting the same, and is therefore 
necessary to be enlarged ; Be it therefore likewise 
enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the said 
Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, so to enlarge and 
make wider the same, as that the said Way and Passage 
may run in a Bevil Line from a certain Timber house 
on the North side thereof, commonly called or known 
by the Name or Sign of the Cock, into the Front of the 
Buildings of a certain Inn called the Swan Inn, situate 
on the North side of Holborn Hill, as aforesaid." 

Sir Christopher Wren built this bridge, which was 
meant to be the ornamental end of "The New Canal," 
as it is described in the map of Farringdon Ward in 
Stow's " Survey" (ed. 1720). It must have taken some 
time to complete, for it was not finished until the 
Mayoralty of Sir William Hooker, whose name ap- 
peared carved upon it (although somewhat mutilated) 
when it was uncovered in March, 1840. Sir William 
Tite, C.B., M.P., F.S.A., &c.. Architect to the City of 
London, writing at that date, says : " The Sewer at 
Holborn Hill was opened, and as I was passing, I saw 
the southern face of the Bridge which crossed the Fleet 



174 HoLBORN Bridge. 

at this place uncovered to some extent. It was built of 
red brick, and the arch was about twenty feet span. 
The road from the east intersected the bridge obHquely, 
which irregularity was obviated from a moulded and 
well-executed stone corbel arising out of the angle thus 
formed, which carried the parapet. On the plinth course 
of the parapet was cut the inscription following, record- 
ing the fact of the erection of the bridge, with the 
name of the Lord Mayor at the period : — " William 
Hooke(r). (A)nno D. 1674." 

Sir William Tite says it was a red brick bridge ; 
Hatton, in his "New View of London" (1708), says 
it was of stone ; but then, probably, he never really 
saw it, and Tite did. Hatton's description is : " Hoi- 
bourn Bridge is built of Stone, it leads from Holbourn to 
Snow Hill^ over the N. end of the Fleet Brook ^ where a 
little rivulet called JVells, falls by Hockley Hole^ running 
a little E'd of Saffron Hill^ crossing near the W. end of 
Chick Lane^ and so into this Brook." 

The canalization of the Fleet after 1666 was a use- 
ful work, as it enabled barges to go up to Holborn 
Bridge ; and that it was availed of, we can judge by 
the frontispiece, which was painted in the middle of the 
eighteenth century ; but it was not much used, if we 
can trust Ned Ward, whose sharp eyes looked every- 
where, and whose pen recorded his scrutiny^ : " From 
thence we took a turn down by the Ditch side, I 
desiring my Friend to inform me what great Advan- 
tages this costly Brook contributed to the Town, to 
Countervail the Expence of Seventy four Thousand 

^ " London Spy," part vi. 



HoLBORN Bridge. 175 

Pounds, which I read in a very Credible Author, was 




the Charge of its making : He told me he was wholly 
unacquainted with any, unless it was now and then to 



176 HoLBORN Bridge. 

bring up a few Chaldron of Coles to two or three 
Pedling Fewe I -Mar chants, who sell them never the 
Cheaper to the Poor for such a Conveniency : and, as 
for those Cellars you see on each side design'd for 
Ware-Houses, they are render'd by their dampness so 
unfit for that purpose that they are wholly useless, 
except ... or to harbour Frogs, Toads, and other 
Vermin. The greatest good that ever I heard it did 
was to the Undertaker, who is bound to acknowledge 
he has found better Fishing in that muddy Stream, than 
ever he did in clear Water." 

Gay, too, in his " Trivia," more than once mentions 
the foulness of the Fleet in book ii. 

"Or who that rugged street^ would traverse o'er, 
That stretches, O Fleet-Ditch, from thy black shore 
To the Tour's moated walls ? " 

And again : 

" If where Fleet-Ditch with muddy current flows." 

Here is a pen-and-ink sketch of Holborn Bridge — 
from some old engraving or painting (Crosby does not 
give his authority), which gives an excellent idea of 
old London — squalid and filthy according to our ideas. 
How different from that noble viaduct which now 
spans the course of the Fleet River ! which her Majesty 
opened on November 6, 1869. 

' Thames Street. 




HOLBORN BRIDGE. 
13 




CHAPTER XV. 



THEN, close by (still keeping up its title of the 
River of the Wells) was Lamb's Conduit, on 
Snow Hill, which was fed from a little rill 
which had its source near where the Foundling Hos- 
pital now stands, its course being perpetuated by the 
name of Lamb's Conduit Street, where, according to the 
" Old English Herbal," watercresses used to flourish. 
" It groweth of its own accord in gardens and fields 
by the way side, in divers places, and particularly in 
the next pasture to the Conduit Head, behind Gray's 
Inn, that brings water to Mr. Lamb's Conduit in 
Holborn." 

William Lamb was a citizen of London, and of the 
Guild of Cloth-workers, besides which, he was some time 
Gentleman of the Chapel to Henry VIII. He benefited 
his fellow-citizens by restoring a conduit in 1577, which 
had been in existence since the fift:eenth century ; and, 
after the Great Fire, the busy Sir Christopher Wren was 



i8o Lamb's Conduit. 

employed to design a covering for the spring, which he 
did, putting a lamb on the top, with a very short in- 
scription on the front panel, to the effect that it was 
" Rebuilt in the year 1677 S' Tho* Davis Kn' L'^ 
Mayor." 

It is curious to learn how the suburbs of London 
have grown within the memory of living men. Take, 
for instance, the following, from Notes and ^eries 
(April, 1857, p. 265), referring to Lamb's Conduit. 
A correspondent writes that " About sixty years since, 
I was travelling from the West of England in one 
of the old stage coaches of that day, and my fellow- 
travellers were an octogenarian clergyman and his 
daughter. In speaking of the then increasing size of 
London, the old gentleman said that when he was a 
boy, and recovering from an attack of smallpox, he 
was sent into the country to a row of houses standing 
on the west side of the present Lamb's Conduit Street ; 
that all the space before him was open fields ; that a 
streamlet of water ran under his window ; and he saw 
a man snipe-shooting, who sprung a snipe near to the 
house, and shot it." 

It was no small gift of William Lamb to the City, 
for it cost him ^^1,500, which was equivalent to thrice 
that sum at present, and, to make it complete, he gave 
to one hundred and twenty poor women, pails where- 
with to serve and carry water, whereby they earned an 
honest, although a somewhat laborious, living. Lamb 
left many charitable bequests, and also founded a chapel, 
by Monkwell Street, now pulled down. This Conduit 
existed until about 1755, when it was demohshed, and 




lame's coniu'it. snow nil I, 



i82 Lamb's Conduit. 

an obelisk with lamps erected in its place, but, that 
being found a nuisance, was, in its turn, soon done 
away with. 

Lamb was buried in the Church of St. Faith's, under 
St. Paul's, and on a pillar was a brass to his memory, 
which is so quaint, that I make no apology for intro- 
ducing it. 

" William Lambe so sometime was my name, 
Whiles alive dyd runne my mortall race, 
Serving a Prince of most immortall fame, 
Henry the Eight, who of his Princely grace 
In his Chapell allowed me a place. 
By whose favour, from Gentleman to Esquire 
I was preferr'd, with worship, for my hire. 
With wives three I joyned wedlock band, 
Which (all alive) true lovers were to me, 
Joane, Alice, and Joane ; for so they came to hand. 
What needeth prayse regarding their degree ? 
In wively truth none stedfast more could be. 
Who, though on earth, death's force did once dissever. 
Heaven, yet, I trust, shall joyn us all together. 

Lambe of God, which sinne didst take away; 
And as a Lambe, was offred up for sinne. 

Where I (poor Lambe) went from thy flock astray, 
Yet thou, good Lord, vouchsafe thy Lambe to winne 
Home to thy folde, and holde thy Lambe therein ; 
That at the day, when Lambes and Goates shall sever. 
Of thy choice Lambes, Lambe may be one for ever. 

1 pray you all, that receive Bread and Pence, 
To say the Lord's Prayer before ye go hence." 

It is said, also, that the old verses, so well known, 
were appended to the brass, or, rather, engraved on his 
tombstone. 



Clerkenwell. 183 

" As I was, so are ye, 
As I am, you shall be, 
That I had, that I gave. 
That I gave, that I have. 
Thus I end all my cost, 
That I felt, that I lost." 

But there is one well must not be lost sight of; for, 
in its small way, it was tributary to the Fleet — and that 
is Clerk's Well, or Clerkenwell, which gives its name to 
a large district of London. It was of old repute, for we 
see, in Ralph Aggas' Map of London, published about 
1560, a conduit spouting from a wall, into a stone tank 
or trough. This is, perhaps, the earliest pictorial deli- 
neation of it ; but FitzStephen mentions it under '•'■fons 
Clericorum" so called, it is said, from the Parish Clerks 
of London, who chose this place for a representation of 
Miracle Plays, or scenes from Scripture realistically ren- 
dered, as now survives in the Ober Ammergau Passion 
Play. This little Company, which still exists as one of 
the City Guilds, has never attained to the dignity of 
having a livery, but they have a Hall of their own (in 
Silver Street, Wood Street, E.C.), and in their time have 
done good service in composing the " Bills of Mor- 
tality ; " and gruesome pamphlets they were — all skulls, 
skeletons, and cross-bones — especially during the great 
Plague. 

These plays were, as I have said, extremely realistic. 
One, played at Chester a.d. 1327,^ represented Adam 
and Eve, both stark naked, but, afterwards, they wore 
fig leaves. The language used in them, would to our 

' Harl. MSS. 2013. 



184 



Clerkenwell. 



ears be coarse, but it was the language of the time, 
and, probably, men and women were no worse than 
they are now. But, at all events this Guild, which was 
incorporated in the 17 Henry III. a.d. 1232, used 
occasionally to delight their fellow Citizens with 
dramatic representations in the open air (as have lately 
been revived in the '^ Pastoral plays " at Wimbledon) 
at what was then an accessible, and yet a rural, suburb 
of London. 

Hence the name — but the well, alas, is no more — 
but when I say that, I mean that it is no longer avail- 
able to the public. That it does exist, is well known 
to the occupier of the house where it formerly was in 
use, for the basement has frequently to be pumped dry. 
The neighbourhood has been so altered of late years, 
that its absolute site was somewhat difficult to fix ; yet 
any one can identify it for themselves from the accom- 
panying slight sketch of the localityas it existed over sixty 




years since. Ray Street (at least this portion of it) is 
now termed Farringdon Road, and what with Model 



Clerkenwell. 185 

lodging-houses, and underground railways, its physical 
and geographical arrangement is decidedly altered. 

Early in the last century, in Queen Anne's time, 
the Spring had ceased to be a conduit, as shown in 
Ralph Aggas' Map, but had been turned into a pump ; 
and this pump even was moved, in 1800, to a more 
convenient spot in Ray Street, where it was in existence 
(which I rather doubt), according to Pink's History of 
Clerkenwell in 1865. However, there is very good 
evidence of its being, in an engraving dated May i, 
1822, of the " Clerk's Well" — which shows the pump, 
and a stone tablet with the following inscription : 

"a.d. 1800. 
WiLLM. Bound | Church- 
Joseph Bird j warden. 

For the better accommodation of the Neighbour- 
hood, this Pump was removed to the Spot where it 
now Stands. The Spring by which it is supplied is 
situated four Feet eastward, and round it, as History 
informs us, the Parish Clerks of London in remote 
Ages annually performed sacred Plays. That Custom 
caused it to be denominated Clerks' Well, and from 
which this Parish derives its Name. The Water was 
greatly esteemed by the Prior and Brethren of the 
Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and the Benedictine 
Nuns in the Neighbourhood."' 

In later days, the Fleet, as every other stream on 
whose banks houses are built, became a sewer, and 
"behaved as sich ; " so that it was deemed prudent to 



i86 Fleet Market. 

cover some portion of it, at all events, and that part 
where now is Farringdon Street, was arched over, and 
made into the Fleet Market. Our ancestors were far 
more alive to the advantages of ready cash, and conse- 
quent keen competition among dealers, then we are, 
although through the medium of Co-operative Stores, 
&c,, we are beginning to learn the lost lesson, but, at 
all events, they had the acumen to know that large 
centres of supply were cheaper to the consumer than 
small, isolated shops, and the Market^ was the out- 
come. It is next to impossible to make a Market — 
witness in our own times, the Central Fish Market, 
and Columbia Market, both of which are not absolute 
failures, but, to use a theatrical slang term, frosts — and 
this was an example. 

The Canal, up to Holborn Bridge, was expensive to 
keep up, and as we saw, by the quotation from Ned 
Ward, it was next door to worthless. Meantime, 
sewage and silt played their work, as the stream was 
neglected, and, becoming a public nuisance, it was 
arched over, pursuant to an Act 6 Geo. II. cap. 22, 
entitled " An Act or filling up such Part of the 
Channell of Bridewell Dock^ and Fleet Bridge, as 
lies between Holborn Bridge and Fleet Bridge, and for 
converting the Ground, when filled up, to the use of 
the City of London.'' The works were begun in 1734 
and was arched over and finished in 1735 ; but, as 
buildings are necessary for a market, it was not opened, 
as such, until Sept. 30, 1737. For nearly a century 
it remained a market for meat, fish, and vegetables, 
although, of course, the largest meat market was 



Fleet Market, 187 

Newgate, as being near Smithfield ; and for fish, 




n < 



Billingsgate, which still maintains its pre-eminence 



i88 Fleet Market. 

But in 1829 it was pulled down, in order to make a 
wider street from Holborn to Blackfriars Bridge ; and 
this part of the Fleet was called, and now is, Farring- 
don Street. 

The Vegetable Market, for it had come to that 
only, was sv/ept away, and a site found for it, nearly 
opposite the Fleet prison. It is still so used, but it is 
not much of a financial help to the City, as it only 
brings in an annual income (according to the last 
return I have been able to obtain) of between ;^700 
and ;^8oo. It was thought that trade might be en- 
couraged, and revived, if it were worthier housed, so 
what is now, the Central Fish Market, was erected; 
but, before the vendors of vegetables could enter into 
possession, a great cry had arisen as to the supply of 
fish to London, and the monopoly of Billingsgate, and 
the market was given over to the fishmongers. But it 
is not a success in a monetary point of view ; is a 
great loss to the City, and, as a fish market, a very 
doubtful boon to the public. 

The Fleet Prison, which was on the east side of 
Farringdon Street, will be noticed in its place ; and, as 
we have seen, the river was arched over from Holborn 
to Fleet Bridge, after which it still flowed, an open 
sewer, into the Thames. 

But, before going farther, we must needs glance at a 
curious little bit of Fleet history, which is to be found in 
" The Secret History of the Rye House Plot, and 
Monmouth's Rebellion," written by Ford. Lord Grey 
who was a party to the plot, addressed it to James the 
Second, 1685, but it was not printed until 1754. In 



Rye House Plot. 189 

p. 28 it states, " About the latter end of Oct, Monmouth 
s'd to Sir Thos. Armstrong and Lord Grey, that it was 
necessary for them to view the passage into the City, 
which, accordingly they did, from the lower end of 
Fleet-ditch^ next the river, to the other end of it, by 
Snow Hill," And again (p, 34) : " Sunday night was 
pitched upon for the rising in London, as all shops 
would be shut. Their men were to be armed at the 
Duke of Monmouth's in Hedge Lane, Northumber- 
land House, Bedford House, and four or five meeting 
houses in the City. 

*' The first alarm was designed to be between eleven 
and twelve at night, by attacking the train bands at 
the Royal Exchange, and then possessing ourselves of 
Newgate, Ludgate, and Aldersgate. The first two 
gates we did not design to defend, unless we were 
beaten fi-om Fleet Bridge and Snow Hill, where we 
intended to receive the first attack of the King's 
Guards. At Snow Hill, we intended to make a 
Barricade, and plant three or four pieces of Cannon, 
upon Ship's Carriages ; at Fleet Bridge we designed to 
use our Cannon upon the carriages, and to make a 
breast-work for our musqeteers on each side of the 
bridge next us, and to fill the houses on that side the 
ditch with men who should fire from the windows, but 
the bridge to be clear." 

As a matter of fact, there seem to have been two 
bridges over the Fleet, crossing it at Fleet Street and 
Ludgate Hill, both side by side, as at Holborn. 
Crosby, upon whose collection I have so largely 
drawn, says that it is so, from personal observation, 



190 Fleet Bridge. 

one bridge being 24 ft. 6 in., and the other, 24 ft. 
wide, making in all, a roadway of 48 ft. 6 in. presum- 
ably including parapets. From his measurements, the 
span of the bridge was 12 ft., and the height of the 
arch was 11 ft. 6 in., but he does not say whence he 
takes his measurement — from the bottom of the Fleet, 
or from the river level. 

To this measurement hangs a tale, which is best told 
in Crosby's own words, from a memo of his in the 
Guildhall Library: — 

"Fleet Bridge, 'Tuesday, July 28th, 1840. As I 
could not depend upon the admeasurements which, at 
the beginning of the year, I had taken in a hurried 
manner, at Fleet Bridges, while bricklayers were placing 
in a brick bottom in place of the original one of 
alluvial soil, I determined to obtain them the first 
opportunity. This evening, therefore, at ten o'clock, 
I met Bridgewater, one of the workmen employed in 
constructing the New Sewer from Holborn Bridge to 
Clerkenwell, by appointment, at the Hoard there, 
water boots being in readiness. I lighted my lamps, 
and, assisted by the watchmen. King and Arion, we 
descended the ladder, and got into that branch of the 
sewer which joins Wren's bridge, at Holborn. We 
then walked careftilly till we reached Fleet Bridge. I 
suspended my Argand lamp on the Breakwater of the 
Sewer, and with my Lanthorn light we proceeded 
towards the Thames. We got a considerable distance,, 
during which the channel of the Sewer twice turned 
to the right, at a slight angle, the last portion we 



Fleet Bridge. 191 

entered, was barrelled at the bottom, the middle so Rill 
of holes, and the water so deep, as we approached the 
Thames, that we thought it prudent to return to Fleet 
bridge." (Here they lit up and took measurements). 
*' All went well till about a quarter to twelve o'clock, 
when to our surprise we found the Tide had suddenly 
come in to the depth of two feet and a half. No time 
was to be lost, but I had only one more admeasure- 
ment to make, viz., the width of the north bridge. I 
managed this, and we then snatched up the basket, and 
holding our Lamps aloft, dashed up the Sewer, which 
we had to get up one half before out of danger. The 
air was close, and made us faint. However we got 
safe to Holborn Bridge. . . ." 




CHAPTER XVI. 



HATTON, writing in 1708, says: ''Fleet Bridge 
is even with the Str(eet) ; it leads from Fleet 
Street over the Fleet Ditch to Ludgate Hill ; is 
accommodated with strong Battlements which are 
adorned with six Peers and enriched with the Arms of 
London^ and Supporters Pine-apples, &c., all of Stone ; 
and bet(wee)n the Peers are Iron Rails and Bannisters, 
on the N. & S. sides of the Bridge.'' 

On either side of where the Bridge used to be, are 
two obelisks, one on the North, or Farringdon Street 
side, to Alderman Waithman, and on the South, or 
Bridge Street side, to John Wilkes the notorious. The 
first bears the following inscription : — 

Erected 
to the memory 

OF 

Robert 
Waithman 

BY 

HIS friends and 

FELLOW citizens, 

M.D.C.C.C.XXXIII. 

14 



1^4 Alderman Waithman. 

This Alderman Waithman was almost one of the 
typical class so often held up as an example for all poor 
boys to follow, i.e., he began life with simply his own 
energy, and opportunity to help him. And, as a 
virtuous example of industry, when the times were not 
so pushing as now ; and half, and quarter, or less 
commissions on transactions were unknown, we may 
iust spend a minute in reading about him. Wrexham 
was his birthplace in 1764, and his father dying soon 
after, he was adopted by his uncle and sent to school. 
No one was then left very many years in statu pupil- 
lari, and, consequently, he had to join his uncle in 
business, as a linendraper at Bath. The uncle died in 
1788, and he took a place at Reading, whence he 
came to London, and lived as a linendraper's assis- 
tant until he came of age. He then married, and 
opened a shop at the South end of the Fleet Market, 
nearly precisely on the spot where his monument now 
stands. 

He prospered in business, and moved to other, and 
larger premises, became Common Councilman, tried 
to get into Parliament for the City, and ultimately 
succeeded in 18 18. Next election he lost it, but in all 
subsequent ones he was the favoured candidate. He was 
Alderman of Farringdon Without, Sheriff, and filled 
the office of Mayor in 1823-4. The obelisk to his 
memory remains, but he has dropped out of general 
memory, and this revival of his life, for imitation, in 
industry and rectitude of conduct, must be my excuse 
for taking up my readers' time. 

Far different is it with John Wilkes, about whom 



John Wilkes. 195 

every one knows, and I have only to say that his obelisk: 
bears the inscription — 

A.D. 
M.D.C.C.LXXV. 

The Right 

Honorable 

John Wilkes, 

Lord Mayor. 

This inscription became effaced through the weather, 
and was, within the last few years, replaced with a new 
stone ; but it was grumbled at for not having the 
original word " Esquire " after John Wilkes, which was 
surely a work of supererogation. 

Close by was Ludgate, with its debtors' prison of 
Lud-gate, which was rather aristocratic, being " purely 
for Insolvent Citizens oi London y Beneficed Clergy, and 
Attorneys at Law," and which was even peculiar in the 
time when it existed ; for Maitland, in his " History of 
London" (ed. 1775, pp. 28, 29) says: — 

" The domestick Government of this Prison having 
something very singular and remarkable in it, I pre- 
sume an Account thereof will not be unacceptable to 
the Reader. I shall, therefore, insert a compendious 
Abstract thereof from an Account published some Time 
ago by one who had been a long Time Prisoner there. 

" For the quiet and good Government of this Prison, 
and the Punishment of Crimes and Misdemeanors there- 
in committed, the Master Keeper and Prisoners fr-om 
among themselves chuse the following Officers, viz., 
A Reader of Divine Service ; an upper Steward, called 



196 LuDGATE Prison. 

the Master of the Box ; an Under Steward ; seven 
Assistants, who by Turns officiate daily ; a Running 
Assistant ; two Churchwardens ; a Scavenger ; a 
Chamberlain ; a Running Post ; and the Criers or 
Beggars at the Gates, who are generally six in number. 

" The Reader is chosen by the Master Keeper, 
Stewards, and Assistants, and not at a General Election, 
as the other Officers are. The Reader, besides reading 
Prayers, was, originally, obliged to Ring the Bell twice 
a Day for Prayers, and also for the Space of a Quarter 
of an Hour before Nine at Night, as a Warning for all 
Strangers to depart the Prison ; but for the Dignity of 
his Office, he is now exempt from those Services, and 
others in his stead are appointed to perform them. 
This Officer's salary is two Shillings and eight Pence 
per Month, and a Penny of every Prisoner at his 
Entrance, if his Garnish^ amount to sixteen Pence ; and 
a Dish of Meat out of the Lord Mayor's Basket. 

" The Upper Steward, or Master of the Box, is, by 
all the Prisoners held in equal Esteem with the Keeper 
of the Prison ; and to his Charge is committed the 
keeping of all the several Orders of the House, with 
the Accounts of Cash received upon Legacies ; the 
Distribution of all the Provisions sent in by the Lord 
Mayor, and others ; the cash received by Garnish, and 
begging at the Grates, which he weekly lays out in 
Bread, Candles, and other Necessaries. He likewise 
keeps a List of all the Prisoners, as well those that 

' "Garnish" was the /both/g that every prisoner paid on his 
entrance, and woe become him if it were not forthcoming ; he was 
simply stripped of his clothes. 



LuDGATE Prison. 197 

are upon the Charity, as those that are not ; to each of 
whom, by the Aid of the Assistant for the Day, he dis- 
tributes their several proportions of Bread and other 
Provisions. He receives the Gifts of the Butchers, 
Fishmongers, Poulterers, and other Market People, sent 
in by the Clerk of the Market, by the Running Post, 
for which he gives a Receipt, and, afterwards, in the 
Presence of the Assistant for the Day, exposes for Sale 
to the Charity Men, by Way of Market ; and the 
Money arising thereby is deposited in the Common 
Stock, or Bank. 

" This Officer, with the Under Steward, Assistants, 
and Church-wardens, are elected monthly by the 
Suffrages of the Prisoners ; but all the other Officers, 
except the Chamberlain, are appointed by the Master- 
Keeper, Stewards, and Assistants. The Design of 
these frequent Elections, is to prevent Frauds and 
Abuses in the respective Officers ; but, when they are 
known to be Men of Probity, they are generally re- 
elected, and often continue in such Posts many Months, 
The Monday after every Election, the Accounts are 
audited and passed, and the Balance divided ; and, 
if it amount to three Shillings and four Pence per 
Man, the Keeper of the Prison arbitrarily extorts from 
each Prisoner two Shillings and Four Pence, without 
the least Colour of Right : But, if the Dividend arises 
not so high, then he only takes one Shilling and two 
Pence ; the other Moiety being charged to the Prisoner's 
Account, to be paid at the Time of his Discharge ; 
which new and detestable Impositions are apparently 
contrary to the Intention of the Founder. 



198 LuDGATE Prison. 

" Another great Grievance the distressed and miser- 
able Prisoners are subject to, is, their being obliged to 
^pay the Turnkey twelve Shillings per Month, for no 
other Service than that of opening the Door to let in 
Gifts and Charities sent to the Prison, which often 
amount to little more than what he receives. 

" The Under Steward is an Assistant, or Deputy, to 
the Upper Steward, in whose Absence or Indisposition 
he performs the several Functions of his Office. 

" The Assistants, being seven in Number, are chosen 
Monthly with the Stewards ; one whereof, officiating 
daily, his Business is to attend in the Hall, to enter all 
Charities, and keep an Account of the Money taken out 
of the Boxes, which are opened at five o'Clock in the 
Afternoon, and at Nine at Night ; which Money he 
pays to the Upper Steward, at the passing of whose 
Accounts the Assistants are Auditors. 

" Every Person put in Nomination for the Office of 
an Assistant, refusing to serve, forfeits one Shilling to 
the Use of the Publick, or, in lieu thereof, to be put in 
Fetters for three Days. The officiating Assistant is 
invested with a magisterial Power, whereby he can 
commit a Prisoner to the Stocks or Shackles, for the 
Abuse of any Person. This Officer is to see the Cellar 
cleared every Night, by ten o'Clock of all the Prisoners ; 
for which he receives six Pence out of the Charity 
Money ; two Pence whereof to his own Use, two Pence 
to the Upper Steward, and two Pence to the Running 
Assistant. This Office was anciently in such Esteem, 
that the Assistant, at his entering upon it, used nightly, 
at Eight o'clock, to be ushered into the Hall, by an 



LuDGATE Prison. 199 

Illumination of forty or fifty great Candles, carried by 
so many Prisoners. 

" The Running Assistant's Business is, to attend upon 
the Criers at the Gates, to change Money ; and open 
the Boxes : to put up Candles in their respective 
Places, attend upon the Stewards and Assistants, look 
after the Clock, ring the Bell for Prayers ; and to be 
Crier at the Sale of Provisions. His Salary is four 
Shillings and eight Pence -per Month, and an eighth 
part of the Garnish Money. 

" The Churchwardens are chosen from among the 
youngest Prisoners. The Upper Warden's Office is, to 
call to Prayers on Sundays, after the Bell has done 
ringing ; and the Under Warden's is to call the Pri- 
soners to Prayers all other Days. They are likewise 
to take cognizance of all Persons who are upon the 
Charity Foundation ; who in default of Attendance are 
fined one Penny each. The Under Warden's Salary 
for this Service is four Pence per Month ; and the 
Penalty for not serving, when duly elected, is four 
Pence. 

" The Scavenger's Office is, to keep clean the Prison, 
and to fetter, and put in the Stocks all Offenders ; for 
which he is intitled to receive from each Crimmal one 
Penny, together with a Salary of five Shillings and 
eight Pence per Month, and two Pence out of every 
sixteen Pence of the Garnish Money. 

" The Chamberlain is chosen by the Keeper of the 
Prison, whose Office it is to take Care of all the Bedding 
and Linen belonging to the Keeper ; to place Men at 
their coming in, and to furnish them with Sheets, and 



200 LUDGATE PrISON. 

to give Notice to Strangers to depart the Prison by- 
Ten o'clock at Night. This Officer, formerly, was 
obliged to make the Charity-Men's Beds, for which he 
received two Pence per Month. 

" The Running Post's Business is, to fetch in a 
Basket the broken Meat, from the Lord-Mayor, Clerk 
of the Market, private Families, and Charities given in 
the Streets, which are often so inconsiderable as not to 
admit of a Dividend ; wherefore it is disposed of by 
Sale or publick Market, as aforesaid. The Salary 
annexed to this office, is four Shillings per Month ; one 
Penny per Month out of each Man's Dividend, and 
one Penny out of every ^sixteen Pence of Garnish 
money. 

" The Criers are six in Number ; two whereof daily 
beg at the Grates ; he at the Grate within is allowed 
one Fourth of what is given, and he at that on Black- 
Friars Side one Moiety of what is given there." 

This custom is alluded to in the Spectator^ No. Ixxxii. : 
" Passing under Ludgate the other Day I heard a 
Voice bawling for Charity, which I thought I had 
somewhere heard before. Coming near to the Grate, 
the Prisoner called me by my Name, and desired I 
would throw something into the Box. I was out of 
Countenance for him, and did as he bid me, by putting 
in half a Crown.'' 

Of this Grate there is a pretty and romantic story 
told by Stow.i 

" When the Prison was in this Condition, there 

' Strype's " Stow's Survey," ed. 1720, vol. ii. p. 26 appendix. 



Sir Stephen Foster. 201 

happened to be Prisoner there one Stephen Foster, 
who (as poor Men are at this Day) was a Cryer 
at the Grate, to beg the benevolent Charities of pious 
and commiserate Benefactors that passed by. As he 
was doing his doleful Office, a rich Widow of London 
hearing his Complaint, enquired of him, what would 
release him ? To which he answered, Twenty Pound, 
which she in Charity expended ; and, clearing him out 
of Prison, entertained him in her Service ; who, after- 
ward, falling into the Way of Merchandize, and in- 
creasing as well in Wealth as Courage, wooed his 
Mistress, Dame Agnes, and married her. 

" Her Riches and his Industry brought him both 
great Wealth and Honour, being afterwards no less 
than Sir Stephen Foster, Lord Mayor of the Honourable 
City of London : Yet whilst he lived in this great 
Honour and Dignity, he forgat not the Place of his 
Captivity, but, mindful of the sad and irksome Place 
wherein poor Men were imprisoned, bethought himself 
of enlarging it, to make it a little more delightful and 
pleasant for those who in after Times should be im- 
prisoned and shut up therein. And, in order there- 
unto, acquainted his Lady with this his pious Purpose 
and Intention ; in whom likewise he found so affable 
and willing a Mind to do Good to the Poor, that she 
promised to expend as much as he should do for the 
carrying on of the Work." 

And they did spend their money on it right royally, 
building, amongst many other conveniences, a Chapel 
for the inmates, a.d. 1454, which they endowed, so as 
to maintain a "preacher" or chaplain. Sir Stephen 



202 Sir Stephen Foster. 

Foster likewise provided that the place " should be free 
for all Freemen, and that they, providing their own 
Bedding, should pay nothing at their Departure for 
Lodging, or Chamber rent (as now they call it), which 
to many poor Men becomes oftentimes as burdensome 
as their Debts, and are by the Keeper detained in 
Prison as for Debt, only for their Fees, though dis- 
charged and acquitted of what they were committed 
for." 

Nor did his charitable goodness end here, for he 
gave a supply of water gratis to the prisoners, as was 
recorded on a brass in the Chapel, very pithily — 

" Devout Souls that pass this way 
For Stephen Forster, late Maior, heartily pray. 
And Dame Agnes, his Spouse, to God consecrate. 
That of Pity this House made for Londoners in Ludgate. 
So that for Lodging and Water, Prisoners have nought to pay, 
As their Keepers shall all answer at dreadful Doomsday." 

Dame Agnes survived her husband, but was ulti- 
mately buried by his side in the Church of St. Botolph^ 
Billingsgate. 

For a Prison, Ludgate compared more than favour- 
ably with every other in London. As we have seen, 
the prisoners were select ; they were helped, in the 
matter of food, by the king of the City, the Lord 
Mayor : their fees were infinitesimal as compared with 
other debtors' prisons, Strype (ed. 1720, book ii. 
p. 179) says : — 

" Formerly Debtors that were not able to satisfy 
their Debts, put themselves into this Prison of 



LuDGATE Prison. 205 

Ludgate, for shelter from their Creditors. And 
these were Merchants and Tradesmen that had been 
driven to want by Losses at Sea. When King Philip 
in the Month of August 1554 came first through 
London, these prisoners were Thirty in number ; and 
owed ^10,000, but compounded for ^^2,000. Who 
presented a well penned Latin Speech to that Prince, to 
redress their Miseries, and, by his Royal Generosity, to 
free them. ' And the rather, for that that Place was 
not Sceleratorum Career, sed miser or um Custodia ; i.e., a 
Gaol for Villains, but a Place of Restraint for poor 
unfortunate Men. And that they were put in there, 
not by others, but themselves fled thither ; and that not 
out of fear of Punishment, but in hope of better 
Fortune.' The whole Letter was drawn by the curious 
Pen of Roger As c ham, and is extant among his Epistles, 
Lib. iii. 

" If a Freeman or Freewoman of London be com- 
mitted to Ludgate, they are to be excused from the 
ignominy of Irons, if they can find Sureties to be true 
Prisoners, and if the Sum be not above _^ioo. There 
is another Custom of the liberal and mild Imprisonment 
of the Citizens in Ludgate, whereby they have Indul- 
gence and Favour to go abroad into any place by Baston, 
as we term it, under the guard and superintendency of 
their Keeper, with whom they must return again to the 
Prison at Night." 



CHAPTER XVIL 

THE Course of the Fleet is nearly run, but, before 
closing this account of the river, we should not 
forget the residence of the mighty King-maker, 
the Earl of Warwick, whose pleasant gardens ran down 
to the Fleet ; and there, in Warwick Lane, after the 
great Fire, was built the College of Physicians, de- 
scribed thus by Dr. Garth, in his " Dispensary " : — 

" Not far from that most celebrated Place, 
Where angry Justice shews her awful Face ; 
Where little Villains must submit to Fate, 
That great ones may enjoy the World in State , 
There stands a Dome, majestick to the sight, 
And sumptuous Arches bear its oval height; 
A golden Globe plac'd high with artful skill. 
Seems, to the distant sight, a gilded Pill." 

Here they were housed until 1825, and, from the 
Fleet, could be seen the Apothecaries' Hall, in Water 
Lane, Blackfriars, 



2o6 Bridewell. 

" Nigh where Fleet Ditch descends in sable Streams 
To wash his sooty Naiads in the Thames ; 
There stands a Structure on a Rising Hill, 
Where Tyro's take their Freedom out to Kill." 

Then there was the Monastery of the Dominicans, 
or Black-friars, which has given its name to a whole 
district ; and there was a fortification, or postern, on 
the little river, near Ludgate Hill ; and, close to its 
junction with the Thames, was Bridewell Bridge, so 
called from the Royal Palace of that name, which, in 
its turn, received its cognomen from another well, which 
went to form the " River of Wells," St. Bridget's or 
Bride's Well. This bridge is shown in the frontispiece, 
and was necessarily made very high in order to allow 
sailing craft to go under it. 

It was here that Pope, in his " Dunciad " (book ii.), 
thus sings : 

" This labour past, by Bridewell all descend, 
(As morning pray'r, and flagellation end) 
To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams 
Rolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames, 
The King of Dykes ! than whom, no sluice of mud, 
With deeper sable blots the silver flood. 
'.Here strip, my children ! here at once leap in. 
Here prove who best can dash thro' thick and thin.' " ' 

Ward bursts into song over Bridewell, thus : — 

" 'Twas once the Palace of a Prince, 
If wc may Books Confide in ; 
But given was, by him long since. 
For Vagrants to Reside in." 

' See next page. 




BRIDEWELL BRIDGE. 



208 MONTFICHET CaSTLE. 

The Royal Palace of Bridewell stood on the site of 
the Castle of Moiitfichet, who is believed to have come 
over with William the Conqueror. Tradition assigns 
it a still earlier date, even Roman, but then, I don't say 
there was not a Roman fortress here, but I cannot say 
there was. Certainly Cardinal Wolsey lived here, and 
Henry VIII. held occasional Court. 

Strype, in his edition of Stow (1720) says that after 
the destruction of Montfichet Castle and its Stone being 
given away : — 

" This Tower or Castle being thus destroyed, stood, 
as it may seem, in Place where now standeth the House 
called Bridezvell. For, notwithstanding the Destruction 
of the said Castle or Tower, the House remained large, 
so that the Kings of this Realm long after were lodged 
there and kept their Courts. For, in the Ninth Year 
of Henry the Third, the Courts of Law, and Justice 
were kept in the King's House, wheresoever he was 
lodged, and not else where. And that the Kings have 
been lodged, and kept their Law Courts in this Place, 
I could shew you many Authorities of Record. . . . 

" More, (as Matthew Paris hath) about the Year 
1 210, King John/\n the Twelfth Year of his Reign, 
summoned a Parliament at 6*. Brides in London ; where 
he exacted of the Clergy, and Religious Persons the Sum 
of One Hundred Thousand Pounds ; And besides all 
this, the White Monks were compelled to cancel their 
Privileges, and to pay ^4000 to the King, &c. This 
House of 5*. Brides (of later Time) being left, and not 
used by the Kings, fell to Ruin; insomuch that the 



Bridewell. 209 

very Platform thereof remained (for great part) waste, 
and as it were, but a Lay Stall of Filth and Rubbish, 
only a fair Well remained there. A great part whereof, 
namely, on the West, as hath been said, was given to 
the Bishop of Salisbury ; the other Part toward the 
East remained waste, until King Henry the Eighth 
builded a stately and beautifiil House, thereupon, giving 
it to Name, Bridewell, of the Parish and Well there. 
This House he purposely builded for the Entertainment 
of the Emperor Charles the Fifth ; ^ who in the Year 
1522 came into this City. . . . Being in Decay, and 
long disused, King Edward VI, gave it to the City in 
the Seventh - Year of his Reign. 

"It is seated near to Blackfriars ; from which it is 
severed by the Canal of the Fleet-ditch. It was obtained 
of the King at first for an Harbour of poor Harbour- 
less People, that lay abroad in the Streets. It was soon 
after improved to be a Workhouse, not only to give 
Lodging to poor, idle, wandring Persons, Beggars, and 
others; but to find them Work, to help to maintain 
themselves. But tho' this was granted in the Year 1553, 
yet it seems, it was not before Two Years after, that 
the City entred and took possession of it by Gerard their 
Maior, having obtained Queen Marys Confirmation. 

"In the time of Queen Elizabeth, about the Year 
1570 and odd, one John Pain, a Citizen, invented a 
Mill to grind Corn ; which he got recommended to the 
Lord Maior, for the Use of Bridewell. This Mill had 
Two Conveniences : One was. That it would grind a 
greater Quantity considerably than any other Mills of 

' Of Spain. ^ A.D. 1553. 

15 



2IO Bridewell. 

that Sort could do. And the other (which would render 
it so useflil to Bridewell) was, That the Lame, either in 
Arms or Legs, might work at it, if they had but the 
Use of either. And, accordingly, these Mills were 
termed Hand-Mills or Foot-Mills. 

" This Mill he shewed to the Lord Maior, who saw 
it grind as much Corn with the Labour of Two Men, 
as they did then at Bridewell with Ten. That is to 
say, Two Men with Hands, two Bushels the Hour; 
or Two Men with Feet, two Bushels the Hour. If 
they were Lame in their Arms, then they might earn 
their Livings with their Legs. If Lame in their Legs, 
then they might earn their Livings with their Arms." — 
This, perhaps, is the earliest mention of the treadmill, 
as a punishment. 

Still quoting Strype, (same edition) : " The Use of 
this Hospital now is for an House of Correction, and to 
be a Place where all Strumpets, Night-walkers, Pick- 
pockets, vagrant and idle Persons, that are taken up for 
their ill Lives, as also incorrigible and disobedient Ser- 
vants, are committed by the Mayor and Aldermen, who 
are Justices of the Peace within the said City ; And 
being so committed are forced to beat Hemp in publick 
View, with due Correction of whipping, according to 
their Offence, for such a Time as the President and 
Court shall see Cause." 

Bridewell is well shown by Hogarth in the fourth 

picture of the " Harlot's progress," where both men and 

women are seen " beetling" hemp.^ 

^ A Beetle is a portion of a trunk of a tree, large or small as 
occasion demanded, sometimes more than one man could lift, vide 



Fuller ON Bridewell. 211 

In a very rare tract called " Mr. William Fuller's 
Trip to Bridewell" (1703) he gives a fairly graphic 
description of a prisoner's entry therein. "As soon as 
I came there, the Word was Stripy pull off your Cloaths^ 
and with much intreaty, I prevail'd to keep on my 
Westcoat ; then I was set to a Block, a punny of 
Hemp was laid thereon, and Ralph Cumpton (a Journy 
Man in the Shop) presented me with a Beatle, bidding 
me knock the Hemp with that, as fast as I could. 
This Beatle is of Brazel,^ and weigh'd about 12 
pounds." 

Previously to this, poor Fuller had to stand twice in 
the pillory, on one of which occasions he was nearly 
killed by the mob, and when taken to Bridewell, all 
black and blue as he was, he had a whipping : — " My 
Hands were put in the Stocks, and then Mr. Hemings the 
Whipper, began to noint me with his Instrument, that 
had, I believe, about a dozen Strings notted at the end, 
and with that I had Thirty Nine Stripes (so that 
according to a certain Almanack Maker, who reckoned 
Dr. Oatess Stripes by every String, I had twelve times 
Thirty Nine). I had given the Rascal Haifa Crown, 
but he afforded me very little favour, but struck home 
at every stroak ; I confess I could not forbear bawling 

Shakspearc (2 Hen. IV. act i. sc, 2), " Fillip me with a thrcc-man 
beetle," i.e.., one with three handles. All exogenous fibres have to 
be crushed, in order to release the fibre from the wooden core, and 
this, which is now done by machinery, was then done by beetles, 
or wooden hammers. 



' Brazil wood. 



212 Ward ON Bridewell. 

out, but good Sir Robert ^ knockt at last, and I was let 
out of the Stocks." 

The prisoners, if they chose, could find their own 
food, but they were kept strictly at work as is quaintly 
put by Fuller — " I had, in each Shop, the Thieves for 
my Fellow-labourers, and the Journeymen, our Deputy 
Task Masters, were frequently calling to the Prisoners, 
Why don t you Work there ^ strike hard: Then threaten, 
and sometimes beat them with a small Cane. These 
Task-masters are so accustomed to keeping their 
Prisoners hard at Work, that I have heard themselves 
say, they have, frequently, (forgetting themselves) called 
out, when they had no Prisoner in the Shop, as before, 
Why don t you work the^^e!' 

Ward (in the '^ London Spy ") gives an almost too 
graphic account of this prison, but expresses unmiti- 
gated disgust at the whipping of women, which took 
place there, and solemnly protested against its continu- 
ance. His description of a woman being flogged, is as 
follows : — 

" My Friend Re-conducted me back into the first 
Quadrangle, and led me up a pair of Stairs into a 
Spacious Chamber, where the Court was sitting in great 
Grandeur and Order. A Grave Gentleman, whose 
Awful Looks bespoke him some Honourable Citizen, 
was mounted in the Judgement-Seat, Arm'd with a 
Hammer, like a Change-Broker at Lloyd's Coffee House^ 
when selling Goods by Inch of Candle, and a Woman 

' Sir Robert Jeffries the President and Justice at Bridewell, when 
he knocked with a hammer the punishment ceased. 



Ward ON Bridewell. 213 

under the Lash in the next Room ; where Folding doors 
were open'd, that the whole Court might see the 
Punishment Inflicted ; at last down went the Hammer, 
and the Scourging ceas'd. . . . Another Accusation 




WOMEN BEATING HEMP. 



being then deliver'd by a Flat-Cap against a poor 
Wench, who having no Friend to speak in her behalf, 
Proclamation was made, viz. All you who are willing 

E th T 11, should have -present Punishment, pray 

hold up your hands. Which was done accordingly : 



214 Howard on Bridewell. 

And then she was order'd the Civility of the House^ 
and was forc'd to shew her tender Back and Breasts to 
the Grave Sages of the August Assembly, who were 
mov'd by her Modest Mein, together with the white- 
ness of her Skin, to give her but a gentle Correction." 

John Howard, in his " State of the Prisons in England 
and Wales " (ed. 1777) gives the following description of 
Bridewell : — 

" This building was formerly a Palace, near St. 
Bridget's (St. Bride's) Well ; from whence it had the 
name ; which, after it became a Prison, was applied to 
other Prisons of the same sort. It was given to the 
City by King Edward VI. in 1552. 

" That part of Bridewell which relates to my subject 
has wards for men and women quite separate. ^ The 
men's ward on the ground floor, is a day room in which 
they beat hemp ; and a night room over it. One of 
the upper chambers is fitting up for an Infirmary, — The 
woman's ward is a day room on the ground floor, in 
which they beat hemp ; and a night room over it. I 
was told that the chamber above this is to be fitted up 
for an Infirmary. The sick, have, hitherto, been com- 
monly sent to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. All the 
Prisoners are kept within doors. 

'' The women's rooms are large, and have opposite 
windows, for fresh air. Their Ward, as well as the 
men's, has plenty of water : and there is a Hand- 
Ventilator on the outside, with a tube to each room of 

^ In Hogarth's picture both men and women arc working 
together. 



ii6 Bridewell Prison. 

the women's ward. This is of great service, when the 
rooms are crowded with Prisoners, and the weather is 
warm. 

" The Prisoners are employed by a Hemp dresser, 
who has the profit of their labour, an apartment in the 
Prison, and a salary of _^I4. I generally found them 
at work : they are provided for, so as to be able to per- 
form it. The hours of work are, in winter, from eight 
to four; in summer from six to six, deducting meal 
times. The Steward is allowed eightpence a day for 
the maintenance of each Prisoner ; and contracts to 
supply them as follows : — On Sunday, Monday, Tues- 
day and Thursday, a penny loaf, ten ounces of dressed 
beef without bone, broth, and three pints often shilling 
beer; on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, a penny 
loaf, four ounces of cheese, or some butter, a pint of 
milk pottage, and three pints of ten shilling beer. . . . 
In winter they have some firing. The night rooms are 
supplied with straw. No other Prison in London has 
any straw, or other bedding. ... I found there in 
1776:— 

March 13. Prisoners ... 20 
May I. „ ... 7 

Dec. 3. „ ... 24." 

It continued as a House of Correction for the City 
of London until its abolition, with other Civic prisons 
by an Act of 40 and 41 Vict, cap, 21, entitled "An 
Act to amend the Law relating to Prisons in England." 
But there was an exception made in its favour, and it 
-Still remains a House of Correction in a mild way — 



The City and Apprentices. 217 

thanks to the very kindly and fatherly wishes and 
representations of the Civic Authorities. 

The good old days of Apprenticing boys to some 
craft: for seven years, during which he was to serve his 
master faithfully, and in return, was to be housed, fed, 
and taught his business, have all but passed away, but 
not quite. There are still some refractory apprentices, 
as there ever have been. We know the common saying 
of '* Boys will be boys," which is applied in mitigation of 
juvenile indiscretion, but there is also another apothegm, 
" Little boys, when they are naughty, must be smacked, 
and sent to bed." Bridewell has always been a place 
where idle or refractory City apprentices have had the 
opportunity of pondering over the errors of their ways, 
and in passing this Act, a special exemption was made, 
and there still exist six cells, which, I am sorry to say, 
are fi-equently occupied by erring youths. It is all done 
in the kindest, and most fatherly way. The City 
Chamberlain from the time of the Indentures of the 
lad being signed, to giving him his Freedom, acts as 
his guardian, to a great extent. Has the lad any com- 
plaint to make against his master it is to the Chamber- 
lain he must appeal, and vice versa. The Cause is heard 
in camera, and every effort is made to reconcile the 
parties, but, as will sometimes happen with a boy who 
is obstinate, sullen, or vicious, all attempts to bring him 
to a better sense fail, then the Chamberlain, by virtue 
of his office commits the boy to Bridewell, where he 
eats the bread, and drinks the water, of affliction for a 
while, a treatment, which combined with the confine- 
ment, hard work, and enforced sequestration from 



2i8 The City and Bridewell. 

society, largely aided by the good advice of the Chaplain, 
very seldom fails to eiFect its object, and render that lad 
a decent member of the commonweal. It just arrests 
him in his downward path, there is no publicity, the 
thing is never chronicled in any Newspaper, as it might 
be, supposing no Bridewell existed, and the case was 
brought before a police magistrate — it need never be 
known outside his family circle, and he escapes the 
taint of being a gaol bird. 

Bridewell seems to have been long associated with 
apprentices, not all of them " 'Thomas Idles" I am happy 
to say ; and Hatton in " The New View of London " 
(1708) writes, showing the tender care that the City of 
London have always had for their poor : 

" It is also an Hospital for Indigent Persons, and 
where 20 Art Masters (as they are called) being decayed 
Traders as Shoemakers, Taylors, Flax-dressers, &c., 
have Houses, and their Servants, or Apprentices (being 
about 140 in all) have Cloaths at the House Charge, 
and their Masters having the Profit of their Work do 
often advance by this means their own Fortunes, and 
these Boys, having served their time faithfially, have 
not only their Freedom, but also ;^io each towards 
carrying on their respective Trades, and many have 
even arrived from nothing to be Governors." 

This arrangement has, of course, had to " march with 
the times," and in i860 the Master of the Rolls ap- 
proved of, and sanctioned, a scheme of the Charity 
Commissioners, whereby nearly all the flinds appertain- 
ing to Bridewell are utilized by two industrial schools 



Mother Cresswell. 219 

called " King Edward's Schools," most impartially 
divided — one at Witley, in Surrey, affording accom- 
modation for two hundred and forty boys, and another 
in St. George's Fields, Lambeth, for two hundred and 
forty girls ; so that, even in these latter days, Bridewell 
still exists, and, if the spirits of its numerous benefactors 
have the power to see the manner in which their money 
is being spent, I fancy they would not grumble. 

Before leaving the topic of Bridewell, as a prison, I 
must not fail to mention a notorious, but naughty, old 
woman who lived in the time of Charles II,, commonly 
known as " Old Mother Cresswell." It is no slander 
on her memory, to say that her sense of morality was 
exceedingly lax, and she died in Bridewell. She evi- 
dently had saved some money, and with that curious 
spirit which possesses some people, and produces adula- 
tory epitaphs, she would fain be better thought of after 
her death, than she was estimated when alive, for, in 
her will, she left a legacy for a sermon at her flineral, 
the preacher's remuneration to be ^10, on one condition, 
that he should say nothing but what was ivell of her. 
A clergyman having been found, he preached a sermon 
generally adapted to the occasion, and wound up by 
saying : " By the will of the deceased, it is expected 
that I should mention her, and say nothing but what 
was well of her. All that I shall say of her, however, 
is this : she was born well^ she lived welU and she died 
well ; for she was born with the name of CrQsswelly she 
lived in ClQrktnwell, and she died in BndQwell." 

There was a fine old Court-room, which is thus de- 
scribed in the " Microcosm of London " (1808) : 



220 Bridewell Court Room. 

" The Court-room is an interesting piece of antiquity, 
as on its site were held courts of justice, and probably 
parliaments, under our early kings. At the upper end 
are the old arms of England ; and it is wainscotted 
with English Oak, ornamented with Carved work. 
This Oak was formerly of the solemn colour which it 
attains by age, and was relieved by the carving being 
gilt. It must have been no small effort of ingenuity to 
destroy at one stroke all this venerable, time-honoured 
grandeur : it was, however, happily achieved, by daub- 
ing over with paint the fine veins and polish of the old 
oak, to make a bad imitation of the pale modern wain- 
scot ; and other decorations are added in similar taste. 

" On the upper part of the walls are the names, in 
gold letters, of benefactors to the hospital : the dates 
commence with 1565, and end with 1713. This is said 
to have been the Court in which the sentence of divorce 
was pronounced against Catherine of Arragon, which 
had been concluded on in the opposite monastery of the 
Black Friars. 

"From this room is the entrance into the hall, which 
is a very noble one : at the upper end is a picture by 
Holbein, I representing Edward VI. delivering the 
Charter of the hospital to Sir George Barnes, then Lord 
Mayor ; near him are William, Earl of Pembroke, and 
Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely. There are ten 
figures in the picture, besides the king, whose portrait 
is painted with great truth and feeling : it displays all 

' The writer is in error, as the event it represents took place 
some ten years after Holbein's death. The picture is now in 
Christ's Hospital. 



Bridewell Court Room, 221 

that languor and debility which mark an approaching 
dissolution, and which, unhappily, followed so soon 
after, together with that of the painter ; so that it has 
been sometimes doubted whether the picture was really 
painted by Holbein — his portrait, however, is intro- 
duced ; it is the furthest figure in the corner on the 
right hand, looking over the shoulders of the persons 
before him. 

"On one side of this picture is a portrait of Charles II. 
sitting, and, on the other, that of James II. standing ; 
they are both painted by Sir Peter Lely. Round the 
room are several portraits of the Presidents and diffe- 
rent benefactors, ending with that of Sir Richard Carr 
Glyn. The walls of this room are covered with the 
names of those who have been friends to the institution,, 
written in letters of gold." 

This Hall was pulled down in 1862. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

BORDERING upon Bridewell, and almost part and 
parcel of it, was Whitefriars, which, westward, 
ran to the Temple, and eastward to the Fleet. 
It is so-called from a Carmelite monastery, established 
here in the reign of Edward I. Within its precincts 
was the right of sanctuary, and, like the Jewish Cities 
of Refuge, offenders against the law might flee thither, 
and be protected from arrest. Naturally, the very 
scum of London floated thither, to the Mint in South- 
wark, and the precincts of the Savoy in the Strand, in 
none of which the King's warrant ran, unless backed 
by a force sufiicient to overawe the lawless denizens 
of these localities. Whitefriars we may take as its 
original name, but there was given it a nick- name, 
" Alsatia," from Alsace, or Elsass, on the frontier 
between France and Germany, which was always a 
battle-field between the two nations ; and so, from the 
incessant fighting that went on in this unruly neigh- 
bourhood, it acquired its cognomen. 



224 Alsatia. 

Sir Walter Scott, in " The Fortunes of Nigel," gives 
a vivid description of the utter lawlessness and de- 
bauchery of this quarter of the town, but his was 
second-hand. Perhaps one of the most graphic 
pictures of this sink of iniquity is given in Shad- 
well's "Squire of Alsatia," acted in 1688, and which 
was so popular, that it had a run of thirteen nights. 
Here we get at the manners and customs of the natives, 
without any glossing over ; and, just to give an 
example of the real state of the district at that time, I 
make two or three extracts, showing how the denizens 
were banded together in mutual defence. 

" Cheatly. So long as you forbear all Violence, you are safe ; 
but, if you strike here, we command the Fryers, and will raise the 
Posse. . . . 

\_A Noise of Tumult without, and blowing a HornJ\ 
Cheatly. What is this I hear ? 

Shamwell. They are up in the Friers ; Pray Heav'n the Sheriff's 
Officers be not come. 

Cheatly. 'Slife, 'tis so ! 'Squire, let me conduct you This 

is your wicked Father with Officers. \_Exit. 

[Crj without, the Tip- Staff! an Arrest! an Arrest! and the horn 

blows.'] 
[Enter Sir William Belfond, and a Tip-Staff, with the Constable, 
and his Watchmen ; and, against them, the Posse of the Friers 
drawn up. Bankrupts hurrying to escape."] 
Sir Will. Are you mad, to resist the Tip-Staff, the King's 
Authority ? 

[ They cry out. An Arrest ! several flock to ^em with all sorts of 
Weapons, Women with Fire-Forks, Spits, Paring Shovels, tsfr.] 

Tip-Staff. I charge you, in the King's Name, all to assist mc. 
Rabble. Fall on. 
\Rabblc beat the Constable, and the rest run into the Temple. Tip- 
Staff runs away.]." 



Whitefriars. 225 

So that we see how an ordinary sheriff's officer and 
the civil authorities were treated when they attempted 
to execute the law ; but, further on in the play, we 
find a Lord Chief Justice's warrant, backed up by a 
military force — and then we see the difference. 

" Truman. What do all these Rabble here ? 

Co7istable. Fire amongst 'cm. 

Sergeant. Present. 
\The Debtors run up and dozvn, some without their Breeches, others 
without their Coats ; some out of Balconies ; some crying out. 
Oars! Oars! Sculler! Five Pounds for a Boat ! The Inhabi- 
tants all come out arrn^d as before ; but as soon as they see the 
Musqueteers, they run, and every one shifts for himself] 

And almost at the close of the play one of the 
characters. Sir Edward Belfond^ moralizes thus : 

" Was ever such Impudence sufFcr'd in a Government ? Ireland''s 
conquer'd ; Wales subdued ; Scotland united : But there are some 
few Spots of Ground in London, just in the Face of the Govern- 
ment, unconquer'd yet, that hold in Rebellion still. Methinks 'tis 
strange, that Places so near the King's Palace should be no Parts 
of his Dominions. 'Tis a Shame to the Societies of the Law, to 
countenance such Practices : Should any Place be shut against the 
King's Writ, or Posse Comitatus ? " 

This right of sanctuary was taken from Whitefriars 
by William III., the nest of rogues, vagabonds, and 
thieves broken up, the occupants dispersed, and law 
reigned supreme in that once defiant place. 

We have now traced the Fleet River to its junction 
with the Thames. Poor little river ! its life began pure 
enough, but men so befouled it, that their evil deeds 
rose against themselves, and the river retaliated in such 

16 



226 Deaths in the Fleet. 

kind, as to become a malodorous and offensive nuisance, 
dangerous to the health of those men who would not 
leave it in its purity. So it was covered over, about 
1764 (for it took some time to do it), and the present 
Bridge Street is over its foul stream, which was curbed,, 
and bricked in, forming a portion of our vast and 
wonderful system of sewers. It has taken its toll of 
human life, in its time, though but few instances are 
recorded. In the Gentleman s Magazine, January 1 1 , 
1763, we read : " A man was found in the Fleet Ditch 
standing upright, and frozen to death. He appears to 
have been a barber at Bromley, in Kent ; had come to 
town to see his children, and had, unfortunately, mis- 
taken his way in the night, and slipt into the ditch ; 
and, being in liquor, could not disentangle himself." 

Bell's Weekly Messenger, August 2, 1835: "Some 
workmen have been for a few days past engaged in 
making a new sewer, communicating with the foulest 
of all streams, the Fleet Ditch. In consequence of the 
rain the men had left off work ; and, soon afterwards, a 
young man named Macarthy, a bricklayer, proceeded 
to the sewer for the purpose of bringing away a ladder, 
when, owing to the slippery state of the works, he fell 
down the Sewer, but in his descent, caught hold of the 
ladder he was in search of, to which he hung for nearly 
a quarter of an hour, calling loudly all the time for 
assistance, though from some extraordinary cause or 
other, no person was able to afford him any. At length 
some of the labourers arrived — but too late ; he had 
just before fallen into the Sewer, and was carried into 
the Fleet Ditch ; and owing to its having been swollen 



Ben Jonson and the Fleet. 227 

by the heavy shower, floated along as far as the mouth 
of the Fleet Ditch, at Blackfriars, where his body was 
found, covered with the filth of the sewer, which the 
unfortunate man had met with in his progress to the 
Thames." 

And the Times of October 3, 1839, ''^cords another 
fatal accident during some repairs. 

Naturally, this River was celebrated in verse. There 
was a very foolish and dull poem by Arthur Murphy 
in 1 76 1 called " Ode to the Naiads of Fleet Ditch ; " 
and, previously, it had been sung by Ben Jonson, " On 
the famous Voyage," which will be found among his 
epigrams. This voyage was from Bridewell to Hol- 
born, and describes very graphically the then state of 
the river. Too graphic, indeed, is it for the reading 
of the modern public, so I transcribe but a very small 
portion of it, showing its then state. 

" But hold my torch, while I describe the entry 
To this dire passage. Say, thou stop thy nose ; 
'Tis but light pains : indeed, this dock's no rose. 
In the first jaws appear'd that ugly monster 
Y'cleped mud, which, when their oars did once stir, 
Belched forth an air as hot, as at the muster 
Of all your night tubs, when the carts do cluster, 
Who shall discharge first his merd-urinous load ; 
Thorough her womb they make their famous road." 




1768. THE ARREST. (Drawn from a late real scene.) 



" Sir Fopling Flutter through his Glass 
Inspects the ladies as they pass. 
Yet still the Coxcomb lacks the Wit 
To guard against the Bailiff's Writ." 



Cl)e JFlcet Prison. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THIS prison was of great antiquity, and its 
genealogy, like all respectable ones, dates back 
to William the Conqueror, at least ; for we find, 
under date 1197,^ " Natanael de Leveland & Robertus 
filius suus r.c. de LX marcis. Pro habenda Custodia 
Domorum Regis de Westmonasterio, & Gaiolae de 
Ponte de Fliete, quae est hasreditas eorum a Conquestu 
Anglias ; ita quod non remaneat propter Finem Osberto 
de Longo Campo." Or, in English, " Nathaniel de 
Leveland and his son Robert, fined in sixty markSy to 
have the Custody of the Kings Houses at Westminster, 



^ Mag. Rot. 9 Ric. I. Ret. la. Land. ^ Midd. 



230 History of the Fleet Prison. 

and the Prison at Fleet-bridge, which had been their 
inheritance ever since the Conquest of England ; and 
that they may not he hindered therein by the Counterfine 
of Osbert de Longchamp." 

There seems to have been some double dealing in 
this transaction, in which, as was only natural in those 
days, money went into the King's pocket. ^ " And 
Osbert de Longchamp fined in five hundred marks, to 
have the King's favour, and seizin of all his lands and 
chatels whereof he was disseised by the King's Com- 
mand, and to have seisin of the Custody of the Gaol of 
London, with the Appurtenances, and of the Custody 
of the King's Houses of Westminster : provided that 
Right be done therein in the King's Court, in case any 
one would implead him for the same." - 

Robert de Leveland, the son of the foregoing 
Nathaniel, was bitten by the then fashionable craze 
for Crusading, for he is found, in 1201, petitioning 
King John for leave to delegate the care of the King's 
Houses at Westminster, and the Fleet Prison, to Simon 
FitzRobert, Archdeacon of Wells, for the space of three 
years, during which time he should be in the Holy 
Land. His prayer seems to have been granted ; but 
he evidently drew a little money before he went away, 
for, in the Chancery Rolls of the same year, he was paid 
j^i5 I OS, by the City of London, on account of the 
King's Prison of Flete, and he also received other sums 
of j^io i2s. lod. for the Custody of the King's Houses 
at Westminster, and ^^7 12s. id. for the Custody of the 

' Mag. Rot. 9 Ric. I. Rot. 14^, Kent. 

2 Liberate Rolls, p. 25. Rot. Lit. Pat. Hardy., p. 4. 



History of the Fleet Prison. 231 

Gaol of London.'^ By which, and also by the foregoing 
notice of Osbert de Longchamps, it is evident that, at 
that time, the Fleet prison was the principal, if not the 
only, prison in London. 

Robert de Leveland re-entered upon his duties after 
his three years' leave, and a document is extant - in 
which he is excused payment of ^10 he had borrowed ; 
but (possibly in lieu) he was bound to serve beyond the 
seas — i.e.^ in foreign parts — with horses and arms. 
When he died is not known, but his widow evidently 
succeeded him as custodian, for in December, 1217,3 
his wife Margaret has the same allowance given her 
in regard of the King's Houses at Westminster " as 
the said Robert had been accustomed to during his 
life." Thus she was the first female Warden of the 
Fleet ; there were others, as we shall see by and by. 

It is a moot question, and I put it forward with all 
reserve, as to whether there was not even an earlier 
mention of the Fleet before the very authentic case of 
Nathaniel de Leveland ; but as it is open to objection 
that there were more Fleets than one, I only give the 
cases, and make no comment.4- 1189 : "William de 
Flete gave a Mark to have his plea in the King's Court 
touching a hyde of land, versus Randolph de Broy." 
And again,5 in 1 1 93 : " Richard de Flet fined in one 
hundred Marks, that his daughter might be delivered 
from Ralf de Candos, who said he had espoused her." 

' Rot. Cancell. 3 John, f. 100. 
^ Close Rolls, 6 John, f. 33, 

3 Close Rolls, 2 Hen. III., f. 346. 

4 Mag. Rot. I Ric. I. Rot. zb, Bedef. Til de Oblatis Curias. 

5 Mag. Rot. 5 Ric. I. Rot. 2^, Nordfolch and Sudfolch. 



232 Female Wardens. 

In the Rolls are many cases which mention the Fleet, 
but, although it was a House of Detention, for debtors, 
especially to the King, and persons committing minor 
crimes, it never seems to have been degraded into what 
we should now term " a Gaol." No felons seem to 
have been incarcerated there, and there is no mention 
of gyves or chains, but they were used in after years. 

It would seem that another " lady " Warden of the 
Fleet existed in Edward II. 's time, for, in 13 16, 
"Johanne, late Wife of John Schench deceased, who 
held of the King in chief the Serjeanties of the Custody 
of the King's Palace of Westminster, and of his Prison 
of Flete, married Edmund de Cheney, without licence 
obtained from the King, in that behalf. Whereupon 
the said serjeanties were taken into the King's hands, 
and straitway the Treasurer and the Barons com- 
mitted the Custody of the Palace of Richard Abbot, 
who was sworn de fideliter, &c., and the Custody of 
the Flete Prison to John Dymmok, Usher of the 
Exchequer, who was sworn in the like manner. 
Afterwards the said Edmund made Fine for the 
said Trespass, and the said serjeanties were restored." 
By which we see that thus early " women's rights " 
were fully recognized, and "employment for females" 
in occupations hitherto enjoyed exclusively by men, 
seems to have been in force. 

Although not in Chronological Order, I may as well 
add another, and the only other mention that has come 
under my notice of a female Warden (1677):^ "A 
Woman Guardian of the Fleet, marries her Prisoner in 

' See Piatt's Case cited Vaughan's Reports 1677, p. 243. 



Settlement of Fees. 233 

Execution ; he is immediately out of Execution ; for 
the Husband cannot be Prisoner to his Wife, it being 
repugnant that she, as jaylor, should have custody of 
him, and he, as husband, the custody of her." 

Without some effective supervision, as is the case 
with our Prison Commissioners, abuses were bound to 
creep in, and- the Governor or Warden of any Prison, 
(who doubtless had paid heavily for the appointment) 
had to recoup himself by squeezing the unfortunate 
prisoners, and we shall find several examples of this in 
the Fleet. The earliest seems to have been in the 
second year of Henry IV. (1400) when a petition was 
presented to Parliament ^ which prays, in its quaint 
Norm^an French that " les fees de Gardien de Flete 
sorent mys en certain " that the fees might be settled. 

It is possible that extra fees were taken for a certain 
amount of liberty allowed to the prisoners by the 
Warden, who would allow him to go out of gaol on 
certain conditions, and we may be certain, for a con- 
sideration also. The Warden was answerable for his 
Prisoner, and if he escaped, he had to pay the debt, so 
that we may be certain that his ephemeral liberty was 
highly purchased. That this was the case we find in 
7 and 8 Hen. IV. (1406)- "que si ascun Gaoler 
lesseroit tiel Prisoner aler a large par mainprise 3 ou en 
baile, que adonques le persone envers qi le dit Prisoner 
estoit condempne aureoit sa action et recoverir envers le 
dit Gaoler." Or in English, *' That if any Gaoler allowed 

^ Rolls of Pari. vol. iii. p. 469. 

^ Ibid, vol iii. p. 593a. 

3 Allowing a prisoner to go at liberty on finding sureties. 



234 Liberty to Prisoners, 

such Prisoner to go at large^ either by mainprize or bail^ 
thaty then, the Person to whom the Prisoner was indebted 
'might have his action^ and recover against the said 
Gaoler" Yet, notwithstanding this, there were many 
actions brought against the Wardens for allowing their 
prisoners to escape. A relic of this power of the Wardens 
to accord a certain amount of liberty to their prisoners, 
obtained till the last hours of the Fleet. There was, in 
the Rules, a defined district surrounding the Prison, in 
which prisoners, on providing approved sureties for the 
amount of their debt, and paying some fee, might reside, 
on condition that they did not overstep the boundaries. 
That this custom of granting temporary exeats was very 
ancient, is indisputable, for, in the i Richard 11. (1377) 
a complaint was made that the Warden of the Fleet 
" sometimes by mainprize, or by bail, and sometimes 
without any mainprize, with a Baston of the Fleet," i.e., 
accompanied by a prison official, would allow his charges 
to go abroad, " even into the country." 

It is impossible to give a list of all the prisoners of 
note who were committed to the Fleet, and they must 
only be glanced at, but with the accession of Mary, 
some illustrious and historical names appear. First, 
and foremost, and almost immediately after her accession 
to the throne, we read, thanks to the preservation and 
collation, of State Papers, ^ that on the 29th of July, 
1553, a letter from the Privy Council was sent to the 
*' Wardene of the Flete, for the apprehensyone and 
commyttyng of the Lord Russell, Anthonye Browne of 
Essex, and John Lucas." All these prisoners seem to 

' Hayne's State Papers, vol. i. 



Prisoners. 235 

have been treated with great leniency, for there is a 
letter (July 31) to the Warden of the Fleet bidding 
him to give Mr. Lucas and Mr. Cooke the libertye of 
his Garden, so that there must have been a garden then 
attached to the Fleet prison — and a postscript orders 
that *' he shall delyuer Mr. Anthonye Browne, and suffer 
hym to goo to his awne Howse." 

Nor were the others kept long in durance, for on the 
3rd of Aug., 1553, the Council wrote to the Warden 
willing him " To set at libertye John Lucas, and John 
Cocke, Esquiers, giueing them Commaundement withall 
to repaire to their Mancion Howses and their to make 
theire aboode vntill they shall here Rirther of the 
Oueene's Pleasure." And even the incarceration of 
Lord Russell was mollified, for a letter was written on 
9th Aug. to Mr. Garret, one of the Sheriffs of London, 
" whereby the Countesse of Bedforde is licensed to have 
free access twise or thrise in the week, unto the Lord 
Russell, her son, remayning in the said sheriff's 
custodie, so the sheriff be present at their Talke and 
Conference," 

I give the above so as not to spoil the continuity of 
the story, but there is mention of the Fleet prison long 
before; for instance, in 1355, Edward IIL wrote "to 
his well-beloved and trusty, Simon Fraunceys Mayor of 
the City of London, Hugh de Appleby, and Robert de 
Charwaltone, greeting. Whereas we have been given 
to understand that the Foss ^ by which the mansion of 
our Prison of Flete is surrounded, and which, for safety 

' The moat or ditch fed by the Fleet, which washed the walls 
of the prison. 



236 Filthy State of the Fleet. 

of the said prison was lately made, is now obstructed 
and choked up by filth from latrines built thereon, and 
divers others refuse thrown therein, that there is cause to 
fear for the abiding there of the persons therein detained, 
by reason of the same ; and because that, by reason of 
the infection of the air, and the abominable stench 
which there prevails, many of those there imprisoned 
are often affected with various diseases and grievous 
maladies, not without serious peril unto themselves. 
We, wishing a befitting remedy to be applied thereto, 
and that the said Foss may be restored to its former 
state, in which it was when it was first made, and so 
improved ; and, for making provision thereon, desiring 
upon the matters aforesaid more fully to be informed, 
have assigned you, and any two of you, to survey the 
Foss aforesaid, &c," 

This warrant was followed by an Inquest held at the 
Church of St. Brigid in Fleet Street on Tuesday, the 
9th of January, 1356, on the oath of Richard le Cok, 
(Cook) Nicholas le Sporiere (Spurrier), and Thomas le 
Glaswrighte (Glassblower) and nine others. From it we 
learn that the " Foss of Flete " ought to be ten feet in 
breadth all round the Prison ; that it ought to be so 
fliU of water that a boat laden with one tun of wine 
might easily float round it ; and that the shelving banks 
of the Foss were then covered with trees. Also that it 
was quite choked up with the filth of laystalls and 
sewers discharging into it ; and that no less than eleven 
necessary houses (or wardrobes^ as they seem very 
generally to have been called in the thirteenth and four- 
teenth centuries) had been illegally built over it " to the 



Prisoners. 237 

corruption of the Water in the Foss aforesaid ; and to 
such an extent is the flow of water obstructed and 
impeded thereby, that the said Foss can no longer 
surround the Prison with its waters, as it should do." ^ 

The Acts of the Privy Council throw some light on the 
Fleet, giving several instances of Committals thereto, one 
of the first being 9 Hen. V. Oct. 14, 142 1.- Wherein 
Hugo Annesley, who probably was then Warden of the 
Fleet, was directed to incarcerate therein one Grey de 
Codenore, who had been exiled, and having received his 
passport, remained in England, notwithstanding. 

In I Henry VI. ,3 19 May, 1423, the " gardein de 
notre prisone de Flete " was commanded to bring before 
the King some prisoners whom he had in custody, 
namely Huguelyn de Chalons, Johan Billy, Johan de 
Cheviers, Regnault de Graincourt, Hellyn de Bassiers, 
Pierre de Mombreham, and Pierre de Pauniers "noz pri- 
soniers prisez a la reddicion de notre ville de Harefleu." 

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are many 
notices of committals to the Fleet, so numerous that I 
can only mention a few, one only of which I give in 
the original spelling. 32 Hen. VIII. Sept. 9, 1540. 
*' Lres was also brought from the Lord P'vey Seale, 
declaring a certayn affray to be made by S' Geoffrey 
Poole in Hampshyre upon one Mr. Gunter a justice of 
peax, for that (as Poole sayd) one of Gunter's srvants 

' See " Memorials of London and London Life in the Thirteenth, 
Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries," by H. T. Riley, 1 S47, pp. 
279, 280. 

- " Proceedings and Ordinances of the Pri\T Council of Eng- 
land," edited by Sir H. Nicholas, 1834, vol. ii. p. 303. 

3 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 93. 



238 A Quarrelsome Knight. 

had spoken evill of hym, and for that also that hymself 
Gunter had disclosed to the King's Counsail in the tyme 
of Poole's trouble certain secret conference which Poole 
had w' hym. And answer was made to the sayd Lord 
P'vy Seale that calling the complaynt eftesones before 
hym the lordes and others the gent and justices of peax 
in the cutrey to thentent the cryme of S' Geffrey might 
be notorious to all the Cutrey there he shuld comytt the 
said S"" Geffrey to the Flette to remayne there until 
further knowledge of the Kings pleas'"." 

Evidently great interest was made for this naughty 
Sir Geoffrey, for we learn on Sept. 24th that " It was 
declared to the Lady Poole, the wife of Sir Geoffrey 
Poole, that the King's higness had pardoned her husband 
of his imprisonment," and the Lord Privy Seal was 
directed to release him. But he seems to have been a 
very cantankerous knight, for we find him in hot water 
again next year. April 8, 1541, " Whereas Sir Geoffrey 
Poole, Knight, had violently and contrary to the King's 
Highness' peace assaulted and hurt ^ Sir John Mychaill 
clerk, parson of Racton in the County of Sussex," and 
he had to put in sureties to keep the peace towards the 
said parson, and to answer the bill preferred against 
him. But it seems that he had some provocation, for 
a letter was written to him requiring him to remember, 
as far as he could, the " haynous and traytorous woords 
spoken by S' John Michaell." 

On Nov. 7, 1540, Browne, the son and heir of Sir 
Matthew Browne of Surrey, was committed to the Fleet, 

I Beneficed Clergy were given the title of Dominus or Sir — as 
Sir Hugh Evans, in the Merry Wives of Windsor. 



Preference for the Fleet Prison. 239 

together with some of his servants, for burning a certain 
stack of wood in Surrey. On Jan. 8, 1541, John 
Gough of London, printer, was sent to the Fleet for 
printing and selling a seditious book. On March 18, 
1 54 1, there seems to have been a riot among some of 
the servants of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, 
and three of them were committed to the Fleet. On 
April 24, 1 54 1, a smuggler was put into ward here, 
one Giles Hasebarde of Southampton, a " berebruer," 
who had put on board " a ship of Holland, named the 
Mary of Dordroyt," five pockets of wool, without 
a licence, intending to send them to Flanders. For 
this he was sent to the Fleet, the wool confiscated to- 
the King's use, and the Master of the ship was mulcted 
in half the value of his vessel ; but Hasebarde was not 
long in durance, as he was liberated on April 30th. 
To thoroughly understand the reason of this man's 
imprisonment in the Fleet, we must remember that he 
was sent there as being a Debtor to the King, and in the 
fifteenth century it was a very common practice for 
delinquents who were confined in other London prisons 
to confess themselves, by a legal fiction, debtors to the 
King, in order to get into the Fleet prison, which was 
more comfortable. But to show the variety of so- 
called crimes, or misdemeanours, which were punishable 
by imprisonment here, there is the case of John Barkley 
of Canterbury, innholder, who was committed to the 
Fleet for having molested the King's Highness with 
sundry troublous supplications, and it was found that 
he " appered manyfestly to be a comen barrater " and a 

^ A vexatious and litigious person — one who stirs up strife. 



240 Sir John Falstaff. 

malicious pmoter of false and injust mattiers to the 
gret vexacon of the Kings faithflill subjects." 

It was also used as a house of detention, for we find 
Oct. 17, 1 54 1, that Cowley the Master of the Rolls 
in Ireland, was examined, but because the time was 
too short to do it thoroughly, the Lord Chancellor 
sent him to the Fleet " untill syche tyme as the King 
sholde coin to London." It seems to have been a refuge 
for misdemeanants, for April 3, 1542, John Bulmer 
Esquire, for his wilful disobeying of an order taken 
between him and his wife by the Council, was com- 
mitted to the Fleet. And does not Shakespeare make 
Sir John Falstaff a denizen of this prison .'' (Second 
Part King Henry the Fourth^ last scene). 

" Chief Justice. Go, carry Sir lohn Fahtaffe to the Fleete 
Take all his Company along with him. 

Fahtaffe. My Lord, my Lord. 

Chief Justice. I cannot now speake, I will heare you soone : 
Take them away." 

Sir Rd. Empson, so well known in Henry the Seventh's 
time, was indicted for sending, without process, persons 
accused of murder, and other crimes, " to the late King's 
Prisons, to wit the Fleet, the Compter, and the Tower 
of London." And, fi-om the Articles of Impeachment 
against Cardinal Wolsey, it would seem that he was in 
the habit of committing to the Fleet, those who 
thwarted him in his demands. One case (Article 38) is : 
" Also that the said Lord Cardinal did call before him 
Sir John Stanley K"' which had taken a Farm by 
Covent Seal of the Abbot and Covent of Chester, and 



Cardinal Wolsey. 241 

afterw*^' by his Power and Might, contrary to Right, 
committed the said Sir John Stanley to the Prison of 
the Fleet by the space of a Year, unto such time as he 
compelled the said Sir John to release his Covent Seal 
to one Leghe of Adlington, which married one Lark's 
daughter, which woman the said Lord Cardinal kept, 
and had with her two Children ; whereupon the said 
Sir John made himself Monk in Westminster, and there 
died." 

Here is another example of the Cardinal's high- 
handed method of dealing with those who did not 
exactly bend to his will, in Article 41 of his Impeach- 
ment : " Also where one Sir Edward Jones, Clerk, parson 
of Orewly in the County of Bucks, in the i8th year of 
your most noble reign, let his s*^ parsonage with all 
tithes and other profits of the same to one William 
Johnson, for certain years; within which years, the 
Dean of the s'*^ Cardinal's College in ^ Oxenford pre- 
tended title to a certain portion of Tithes within the s'^ 
parsonage, supposing the s^ portion to belong to the 
parsonage of Chichley, which was appointed to the 
Priory of Tykeford, lately suppressed, where (of 
truth) the Parsons of Orewly have been peaceably 
possessed of the s'^ portion out of the time of mind : 
Where upon a Subpoena was directed to the said John- 
son to appear before the Lord Cardinal at Hampton 
Court, out of any term, with an injunction to suffer the 
said Dean to occupy the said portion. Whereupon the 
said Johnson appeared before the said Lord Cardinal at 
Hampton Court, where without any Bill the said 

^ Christ Church, Oxford. 
17 



242 



Cardinal Wolsey. 



Lord Cardinal committed him to the Fleet, where he 
remained by the space of twelve weeks, because he 
would not depart with the said Portion : and at last, 
upon a Recognizance made, that he should appear before 
the said Lord Cardinal, whensoever he was commanded, 
he was delivered out of the Fleet. Howbeit, as yet, 
the said Portion is so kept from him that he dare not 
deal with it." 





CHAPTER XX. 



THE Fleet was, evidently, a handy prison, elastic 
enough to suit all cases, for on Aug. 19, 1553, at 
the Star Chamber, " Roger Erthe, alias Kinge, ser- 
vaunt to Therle of Pembroke, and William Ferror, 
servaunt to the Lord Sturton, were, for making of a 
Fraye, committed to the Charge of Warden of the 
Fleete." 

In September, 1553, the Fleet received a prisoner 
whose name is historical wherever the English language 
is read, for the Privy Council being held at Richmond, 
on the 1st of Sept. " This day appered before the Lordes, 
John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, and Miles Cover- 
dale, Bishop of Exon. And the said Hooper, for 
Considerations the Councell moving, was sent to the 
Fleete." 

Turning from Mary's reign to that of Elizabeth, we 
find equal religious intolerance, for we read in Strype's 



244 Prisoners. 

"Annals of the Reformation, a.d. 1582," that Fleet- 
wood, the Recorder of London, sent a letter to the Lord 
Treasurer, informing him that one Osborn, a priest and 
Franciscan friar, had been examined, and confessed that 
" in crastino Epiphanicej he said Mass in the Fleet 
(where many recusants were committed) in the Lord 
Vaux's Chamber, (to whom he was related) before that 
Lord, Mr. Tresham, Mr. Tyrwhit, and others," which 
three, at the London Sessions, in Guildhall, were con- 
victed on Osborn's evidence. 

Fleet parsons were evidently an institution in the 
sixteenth century, for besides the above-mentioned 
Osborn, there was another committed to the Fleet, on 
May 27, 1584, one Sir R. Stapleton. His fault seems 
to have been that he had preached against the Arch- 
bishop of York, for which he was arraigned in the Star 
Chamber, and was, with others, ordered to read an 
apology — which he did — but in such a contemptuous 
manner, that he was sent to the Fleet. 

In the seventeenth century, many Puritans were 
incarcerated here, especially after the Restoration, when 
their gloomy fanaticism ill accorded with the ideas of 
the age. The bow had been strung too tightly during 
the Commonwealth, and when it was unstrung the 
reaction was great. So many were put into prison for 
conscience' sake. Even in Elizabeth's reign there were 
many in prison, and we can hardly wonder at it when 
we consider it was an age of religious intolerance, and 
the religion professed by these devotees was of a most 
unattractive character. Strype, writing of a.d. 1588, 
says of them : 



Puritans. 245 

" In the Summer Time they meet together in the 
Fields, a Mile or more.^ There they sit down upon 
a Bank. And divers of them expound out of the Bible, 
so long as they are there assembled. 

" In the Winter Time they assemble themselves by five 
of the Clock in the Morning to the House where they 
make their Conventicle for the Sabbath Day, Men and 
Women together. There they continue in their kind 
of Prayers, and Exposition of Scriptures, all the Day. 
They Dine together. After Dinner make Collections 
to pay for their Diet. And what money is left, some 
of them carryeth to the Prisons, where any of their sort 
be committed. 

" In their prayers, one speaketh, and the rest do 
groan and sob, and sithe,^ as if they could wring out 
Tears. But say not after him that prayeth. Their 
Prayer is Extemporal," 

In January, 1600, Lord Grey of Wilton was com- 
mitted to the Fleet, by Queen Elizabeth's order, for 
assaulting the Earl of Southampton, on horseback, in 
the public street. 

There is a fair bibliography of the Fleet prison in 
the seventeenth century. In 1 620-1 there was a 
broadsheet published " A briefe collection of the 
exactions, extortions, oppressions, tyrannies, and excesses 
towards the Hues, bodies and goods of prisoners, done 
by Alexander Harris^ Warden of the Fleete, in his foure 
yeares misgouernment, ready to be proued by oath and 
other testimonies." This was answered by Harris, and 

' Presumably, /toot the town. ^ Sigh. 



246 Bibliography of Fleet Prison. 

his MS., which is in the possession of the Duke of West- 
minster, was pubHshed by the Camden Society in 1879, 
entitled the " GEconomy of the Fleete ; or an Apolo- 
geticall Answeare of Alexander Harris (late Warden 
there) unto XIX Articles set forth against him by the 
prisoners." Of which book more anon. 

Then there was a " Petition to Parliament of the dis- 
tressed prisoners in the King's Bench, Fleet and other 
prisons — but this has no date. In 1647 was published 
" A Whip for the Marshal's Court by Robert Robins 
Gent, being his Petition to the House of Commons." 
The preface to the Reader, is dated from the Author's 
"Iron Cage in the Fleet." In 1653 there was "A 
Schedule ; or. List of the Prisoners in the Fleet remain- 
ing in custody May 25, 1653." Some of them were 
very bad cases, as " William Gregory committed 
February 7, 1651, one Outlawry after Judgment, 
severall other Outlawries and Trespasses, no sums 
mentioned ; " or " Hustwayte Wright committed June 
29, 1650, for j^3i IS., Execution, besides Outlawries,. 
Latitats and Cap. no sum appearing." " 'Thomas 
Keneston committed Nov. 4, 1646, for 51,000 Actions, 
and severall Orders of the Exchequer." In 1669 
appeared "A Companion for Debtors and Prisoners, 
and advice to Creditors, with a description of Newgate, 
the Marshalsea, the two Counties, Ludgate, the Fleets 
and King's Bench prison." In 167 1 was published 
" A Short Narrative, or Anatomie of the Fleet Prison 
&c.," by John Knap, M.D. In 1690 there was "A 
plea for the City Orphans and Prisoners for Debt." 
In 1 69 1 appeared a soul-harrowing little book, called 



A Warden's Troubles. 247 

" The Cry of the Oppressed, a tragicall Account of 
the unparalleled Sufferings of the poor imprisoned 
Debtors and Tyranny of their Gaolers, with the case of 
the Publisher (Moses Pitt)." Here the interest is much 
heightened by numerous engravings showing how 
prisoners were beaten, made to feed with hogs, were 
covered with boils and blains, the females outraged by 
their gaolers, and many other enormities. I would 
fain quote at length from this book, but space will not 
admit of it. In 1699 we find "An Argument that it 
is impossible for the nation to be rid of the grievances 
occasioned by the Marshal of the King's Bench and 
Warden of the Fleet, without an utter extirpation of 
their present Offices." 

The Case as made out by the prisoners against the 
Warden, Alexander Harris, in 1 620-1, was, if it could 
have been thoroughly substantiated, most damaging to 
him, but they overreached themselves by their manifest 
exaggeration. A few examples will suffice. There 
were nineteen counts against him all of grievous weight, 
but we will only take four as a fair sample. ( i ) Mur- 
der ; (2) Felony; (3) Robbery; (4) Excessive Rates 
for Chambers. First, as to the Charge of Murder, this 
is the accusation : " After knowne quarrels and fightings 
between two prisoners, lodging them in one chamber, 
where, quarrelling and fighting againe, and notice to 
him thereof giuen, and of likely further mischiefe ; this 
notwithstanding, continuance of them together, vntil 
the one murthered the other." 

This referred to two prisoners. Sir John Whitbrooke 
and another named Boughton. According to the 



248 A Warden's Troubles. 

Warden's account Whitbrooke did not deserve much 
pity. In July, 16 18, he was given into the Warden's 
Custody, by the order of two Courts, to be kept a close 
prisoner, but he soon developed " dangerous energy," 
for on the loth of the same month, almost immediately 
after his committal, he " came into the Warden's studdy 
where the Warden (in his gowne) was wryteing, and 
fashioned his speech, sayeing that he came to speake 
with the Warden about his lodging, who answeared that 
he would willingly speake about that, and money for it, 
whereupon the Warden putting dust ^ upon the wryteings 
and turneing his back to lay them aside. Sir John 
Whitbrooke strooke him on the head with the sharpe 
ende of a hammer, whereof one Cleft was before broken 
ofF, and the other cleft newly whett, giveing fower 
wounds to the scull, and some bruses before the Warden 
could close with him ; but then the Warden thrusting 
him out of the studdy, did throwe Whitbrooke on the 
back, and took away the hammer, Whitbrooke (being 
undermost) did hould the forepart of the Warden's 
gowne soe as he could not rise ; att which tyme the 
Warden's blood abundantly gushed downe upon Whit- 
brooke, and the Warden could have beaten out Whit- 
brooke's braynes with the hammer, but that he was 
neither wrothfull nor daunted. 

*' Then after, two maydes servants (heareing the noyse) 

^ There was no blotting paper in those days, hut pounce wzs 
used, which was either powdered resin, gum sandarach, or copal, or 
powdered cuttle fish. I believe that pounce may even now be 
bought at law stationers. It was dusted on to the wet ink by 
means of a pepper caster. 



A Warden's Troubles. 249 

came into the roome, and one loosed Whitbrooke's 
hands from the Warden's gowne, or ells the Warden 
must have killed him to acquitt himselfe. Soe soone as 
the maydes came the Warden shewed them the hammer 
all bloody, telling them that Whitbrooke had wounded 
him therewith ; the butler of the howse then alsoe comeing 
upp to cover the table, the Warden bidd him and others 
(which followed) to laye hands upon Whitbrooke &c. ; 
but to take heed they hurt him not ; soe they letting 
him rise and rest himselfe, he took a stiletto out of his 
pockett and stabbed the Warden's deputie cleane through 
the middle of his hand, which (notwithstanding it was 
presently dressed by a good chirurgion) did rankle upp 
to his shoulder, and was like to have killed him ; he also 
stabbed the porter of the howse directly against the 
heart, and drewe blood, but it pierced not : he stabbed 
the gaoler into the hand and twice through the sleeve 
of his dublett, so as then they lay violent hands upon 
him, put on irons and carry ed him to the strongest 
warde of the prison (called Bolton's warde)." 

And a perfectly proper punishment for any one who 
ran amuk like Whitbrooke because there was an organ- 
ized mutiny. " And upon this some three score prisoners 
breake upp all the strongest prisons and dores of the 
wards and Tower chamber, assaulting the Warden and 
his servants with weapons &c., according to a plott and 
purpose before resolved upon, as appeares by depositions." 

The poor Warden had no bed of roses, more especially 
as the female element was afterwards introduced in the 
shape of Lady Whitbrooke, who of course, was a warm 
partisan of her husband. Harris writes : 



250 A Warden's Troubles. 

" The lady alledgeth that in September the quarrell 
betweene the Warden and Whitbrooke was renewed. 

^' The Warden answeareth that in July, 16 19, Whit- 
brooke and Boughton with six others (being lodged in 
a great Chamber) they and six more shutt out thirtie of 
their Companie and fortefied the gaole against the 
Warden, refused all perswasions of the Warden, con- 
stables, and Alderman's Deputie, the comands of the 
Lord Cheife Justice, of the Lord Chauncellor and his 
Serjeant at Armes ; yet yeilded to the clarke of the 
councell sent from the Lords. Whitbrooke and 
Boughton being then in one humour ; and, upon un- 
blocking the prison, Whitbrooke desired liberty : it was 
offred him upon security, he would give none, then he 
made question where to lye, to which was answeared 
there were five other roomes he might make his election 
of, which he would; but he said he would none other 
but where he formerly laye (it being indeed thefayrest). 
They fortified these roomes againe when the Warden 
was out of towne, soe as during Whitbrooke's life and 
Boughton's being there with their adherents the War- 
den had noe comand in that part of the prison." 

It is almost needless to say that these peculiarly 
unquiet spirits quarrelled among themselves. We have 
heard enough of Whitbrooke to know that he was a 
quarrelsome cur^ — impatient of restraint, and thoroughly 
lawless in his habits ; but it is evident that he persuaded 
his wifs that he was an injured innocent ; for, in poor 
Harris's " Apologia pro sua vita," a story which he 
tells so naively, and so nicely, he says : 



A Warden's Troubles. 251 

" The lady alledgeth that the Warden (for revenge) 
resolved and reported he would send Whitbrooke to 
Boulton to keepe. 

" The Warden answeareth that he for governement 
sake and to suppresse misdemeanours doth thretten to 
putt prisoners (offending) into Boultoris Wards (Many 
yeares familiarlie soe called as he thinketh of bolts or 
irons put on them), where Whitbrooke was put when 
he wounded the Warden and his servants ; he continued 
there but a small tyme, and was removed to a roome 
called the Tower Chamber (where Henry Boughton and 
many others did lye), thence Boughton was removed 
into the common prison in December, 16 18, and Whit- 
brooke was removed thither June 16, 16 19, soe as to 
that tyme they lay five moneths within one lodging, and 
six moneths severed in other lodgings and noe quarrell 
stirred. 

" The Lady alledgeth that presently at their comeing 
together Boughton suddenly stabbed and wounded 
Whitbrooke, whereof he dyed. 

" The Warden answeareth that over and above the 
eleaven months aforesaid, yet from June i6th untill 
September 16, 16 19, being 3 moneths, they two 
combyned in their exploits against the Warden without 
falling out (for ought the Warden knewe), but 16 
September Boughton fell out with Harvey (one of his 
chamber felowes), whom Boughton assayled with his 
teeth, and bitt him by the thombe, whereof Whit- 
brooke, Willis, Harvey, and others there lodged, 
advised the Warden, wishing him to take some course. 
The Warden se.nt divers messages by the gaoler to 



252 A Warden's Troubles. 

Whitbrooke to remove thence and to lye elsewhere ; he 
would not, sayeing none should remove him but by 
violence, and they were so strong there, as the Warden 
could doe nothing, none ells durst come amongst them. 
Holmes and Maunsell offered him libertie amongst 
other gentlemen upon bonds. 

" The Warden acquainted the Lord Chauncellor of 
their fortifications, of some other stabbing there, of this 
particular brawle, and besought his lordshipp to send 
them to Newgate. The Lord Chauncellor comanded 
such motion to be made at the tyme of a seale ; it was 
moved by Mr. Woomelayson, as appeares by his briefe, 
then his lordshipp wished oath to be made of this 
offence, and called for presidents ^ to remove them, in 
which meane tyme Boughton (being provoked and 
wounded by Whitbrooke) did stabb him, whereof he 
dyed within 13 dayes, and it was about 14 moneths 
after he wounded the Warden and stabbed his 3 
servants as appeareth by the generall lodgeings and 
places where they laye, sometymes together, and some- 
tymes severed, ensueing to be seene in the end of this 
answeare to this Article, and, if the testimony (which 
was long after delivered to the Warden, by a prisoner 
in the Fleete) be true, then the same Harvey, and one 
Tymothy Willis and Sir John Whitbrooke himselfe, did 
(of sett purpose) whett on Boughton to anger and 
quarrell, because they scorned Boughton and meant to 
assayle him. 

" When Whitbrooke, Boughton, &c., ymured them- 
selves upp in the wards as aforesaid, a view or survey 

' Precedents. 



A Warden's Troubles. 253 

of the roomes was given the Lordes of the Councell, 
and they {were) satisfied. 

" After the tyme of the supposed quarrell (which was 
about Whitbrooke's and Boughton's fortifieing the 
the house) they contynued lyeing where they were 
before, amongst others. 

" Wheresoever they had lyen they might quarrell 
when they mett, as Whitbrooke many moneths before 
broke WilHs his head with a pott or candlestick." 

These two ill-conditioned animals fell to loggerheads, 
and Boughton drew upon Whitbrooke, and so wounded 
him that eventually he died. And this shows the very 
lax discipline that then obtained in the Fleet. Of course, 
no weapons should have been allowed, but " It is alsoe 
alledged that Boughton did provide a sword, and it was 
brought him by a woeman from whom the porter of 
the Fleet tooke it, and delivered it to the Warden (as 
he did indeed) and therefore say their accusers that the 
Warden knew the same sword was to kill Whitbrooke. 

" The Warden had it about a yeareand a halfe before 
this accident (of Whitbrooke's death) happened, and 
delivered it back againe to the woeman that brought it, 
with charge not to bring any thither whatsoever. 

" It was avouched that the sword was Boughton's^ 
and put to dressing to a Cutler, who sent it home againe, 
so as Boughton might have killed Whitbrooke with it 
before it went to dressing, if he had intended any such 
thing. Nay, Boughton had alwayes in his trunck (as 
appeared afterwards) a stilletto so keene, so cleane and 
ready^ as would soone have done such a fact if he had 
meant it ; yea, swords and other weapons want not in 



^54 



A Warden's Troubles. 



the Fleete, and the Warden cannot prevent it. This 
fact was mere accidental!, and not precogitate as the lawe 
hath founde it, which acquitted Boughton of Man- 
slaughter upon his arraignement." Harris, I think, and, 
most probably, my readers will agree with me, has 
made out a very fair case in his own favour ; but I 
must not deal with the other charges against him at 
such length. 



j:^'^5» 





CHAPTER XXI. 



THE second count brought against him by his 
mutinous prisoners was " Remouing a prisoner 
out of his chamber, hauing 5 1 lib. i s. hid vnder 
his bed, which the prisoner required he might go to his 
chamber to dispose of, which was denied, and he thrust 
vp in another roome close prisoner, vntill the Warden 
and some of his seruants rifled his bed of that mony." 

Hear the Warden's defence : — " By this is pretended 
that one Coppin (who euer did beare the name of a 
poore fellowe) lost 51 li., with takeing whereof, if he 
dare charge any person or persons the Lawe is and 
hath beene open for him theis two yeares past. But 
his abettors haue putt it here rather to infame, then 
that they can think it true, as by the ensueing answeare 
appeares. 

" For Edward Coppin, liued as a poore prisoner in the 
Fleete for breach of a decree, and continueing above six 
yeares, would never be drawen to pay the Warden one 



256 A Warden's Troubles. 

penny for meate, drinke, lodging, or attendance ; but 
at last he ran away, and was upon the Warden's 
pursuite taken againe, but before he ran away, he was 
sometymes restrayned of the llbertye of the Fleete 
yards and walks (as is the custome of all prisons in 
England) ; and he lodging in the three Tower 
Chambers with sixteene persons, they often thretned 
their keeper to stabb him, to take away the keyes of 
the prison, to bind him, to hang him ; lastly they 
fortefied that prison, soe that the Warden could not 
dispose or order them. And with two malletts and 
Steele chissells they had cutt the stone workes of the 
dore, soe as noe locks or bolts could shutt them ; and 
while they were thus doeinge Coppin came downe to 
fetch a mallett, wherewith he was taken beneath, and 
presentlie put into another warde aparte from his 
fellowes, about three a clock in the afternoone 1 5 July 
1 6 1 9, not speakeing of any money." 

Master Coppin was one of Boughton's gang, but 
even that malfaiseur could not back up his claim, for 
" A rumour was spredd in the Fleete that Coppin had 
lost 50 li. The Warden heareing thereof, sent for 
Coppin, and asked him : he said he would say nothing 
except Sir Francis Inglefield were present. Then the 
Warden said. Nay, Coppin, if you have nothing to say 
to me, you may depart againe. 

" Then the Warden was informed by Mr. Boughton 
and Wall, that the day before it happened that Coppin 
was removed, they had made meanes to borrowe some 
money upon a pawne, and Coppin professed and swore 
he had not so much (being fower (4) pounds) as they 



The Warden of the Fleet. 257 

demanded. Then the Warden caused Coppin's trunck 
(being new and well locked) to be opened in Coppin's 
presence, and delivered it to him, in which Trunck 
within a Bagg put in a Box (as they said) there was 
about xxix^ ; and then was sett on foote this rumour 
when Coppin had advised with Mr. Rookwood to doe it. 

"About January 1620, Edward Coppin confessed 
that he never receaved any money since he came to 
Prison. 

" Mr. Williams saith that he hath heard that Coppin 
hath confessed that he lost noe money." 

So we may acquit the Warden on this count. Poor 
Man ! he had a rough lot to deal with, but it is to our 
advantage that it was so, for his refutation of the 
charges brought against him throws a flood of light on 
the domestic manners of the time, and of the Fleet 
prison in particular. 

The third count against the Warden was one of 
robbery, "11 lib. 6 s. taken out of the Trunk, and by 
violence, from the person of a close prisoner si eke in his 
bed, by the Warden and his seruants." And Harris 
meets this, as all others, fairly and straightforwardly. 
Says he : — " This toucheth money taken from one 
Thraske, then a Jewdaiser, or halfe Jewe, committed 
close prisoner by the Lords of the Councell, from 
whom, and such like, though in the Gatehouse, King's 
Bench, Fleete, &c., it hath beene used to take away and 
keepe their money, yet the Warden tooke not his until 
he abused it very dangerouslie, and whether this takeing 
away may be said Robbery, let the answeare followeing 
decide. 



258 The Warden of the Fleet. 

" And although the complainte be used with a Cir- 
cumstance, as if the Prisoner were sick, thereby to make 
a shewe as if the Warden gaped at his death and money; 
that was most untrue for Thraske was in perfect 
health." 

This prisoner was sent to the Fleet, to be put in the 
pillory, whipped and branded, and, besides, to suffer soli- 
tary confinement, but he found means to write letters to 
the King and the Lord Chancellor, and the Warden was 
much blamed for allowing him so to do. But poor 
Harris, who must have been plagued almost to death 
by his very recalcitrant charges, could not find out 
whence his prisoner procured his writing materials, and 
at last came to the correct conclusion that he was 
bribing the gaoler who waited upon him. So, with 
some servants, he personally searched Mr. Thraske's 
apartment and person, and found his pens, ink, and 
paper, and also ^11 6s. in money, together with a 
bag and cord with which he used to receive supplies 
from outside, and by means of which he disseminated 
his pernicious literature. All of which the Warden 
very properly confiscated, but the money was kept, and 
used for the prisoner's benefit. " When Thraske had 
worne out his cloathes and desired other, the Lord 
Chauncellor bid the Warden buy for Thraske some 
cloathes, which was done accordingly, even soe much 
as Thraske desired ; the Warden alsoe gave him money 
to buy wyne for his comforte at tymes." And, in the 
long run, the poor Warden declares that he was about 
j^8o out of pocket by his prisoner. 

The last charge we will investigate, is that of 



The Warden of the Fleet. 259 

" Excessiue rates of Chambers." (No. 13 on the Hst 
of 19) "Whereby orders no man ought to pay for 
any Chamber, the Warden allowing bed and bedding, 
aboue 2s. 4d. a weeke, he exacteth 8s., los., 13s. 4d. and 
of some twentie shillings a weeke without bedding," 
The Warden replies to this that " the Orders of the 
Prison are, That noe Parlor Comoners and Hall 
Comoners must lye two in a Bedd like Prisoners, They 
of the Parlor at ijs. iiijd. the weeke. They of the Hall 
at xiiijd. If any such will lye in the Prison then there 
is noe question of their payment, nor any more required. 
But the missery is this that none there will pay at all, 
but stand upon it that they should pay nothing, which 
is contrary to right, to Custome, and to usage. . . . 
An° 1597. The Prisoners then Articling against the 
Warden Sett forth that one Prisoner paid xxxs. others 
xxs., xvs., xiis., xs. a weeke for Chamber without Bedd. 
The Warden then made his Answeare to the Comittees 
that he took xs. a Chamber, and the rest was for more 
chambers than one, and in respect of Dyett, though 
they had none, but fetched it abroad. 

"Soe if Prisoners will have more ease than ordinarie, 
and a Chamber or two for themselves and theirs in the 
Warden's howse, they are by the orders and Constitu- 
tions to Compound with the Warden for it, it being the 
Warden's freehould, and demyseable. . . . To such 
prisoners as lye two in a Bedd, the Warden is to find 
them Bedd, and for Bedd and Chamber they are to pay. 
Whether by Bedd is meant all furniture of Bedding, 
that is to be doubted, for it was never put in practise ; 
but as for those which lye in the Warden's freehould 



26o The Warden of the Fleet. 

by agreement he is not bound to find them Bedd or 
Bedding except it be so conditioned. And such will 
hardly vouchsafe to lye on the comon Bedding which 
passeth from Man to Man ; And the Warden can as 
hardlie buy a new Bedd for every new prisoner which 
Cometh, and therefore the lodgings of ease were pro- 
vided for men of quality and not for the mean sorte of 
prisoners, as the accusation would seeme to inferre ; 
And when Mr. Chamberlayne informed against the 
Warden touching Chambers, All the cheife gentlemen 
in the Fleete certified under their hands that they held 
their Chambers by agreement to have a Chamber alone 
to each, and were contented with the rates." 

That the Wardenship of the Fleet was an onerous 
position, may be inferred from Harris's statement that 
" he hath had at one tyme the King's prisoners for two 
hundred thowsand ^ pounds debt, besides the afFayres 
of State." 

That the office of Warden of the Fleet was of very 
ancient origin we have seen in the case of Nathanael de 
Leveland, and he also proves that it was heritable, for 
he, and his family, had held it for 1 30 years, and more. 
And it had a far-reaching jurisdiction, for in the 3 
Eliz.- we learn that "Upon an adjournment of the term 
to Hertford, several prisoners were committed to the 
Castle there. This Castle was part of the Duchy of 
Lancaster. The Queen had granted a patent to A. of 
the Custody of this Castle for his Life ; resolved by the 

^ Equal in our currency to about three times the amount. 
2 Reports of Cases, &c., by Sir James Dyer (cd. 1794) vol. ii. 
p. 204 a. 



Purchase of Wardenship. 261 

Judges that the Warden of the Fleet shall have the 
Custody there of the Prisoners committed by the 
Chancery, Common Pleas and Exchequer: For he is 
the Officer of those Corts ; and although the Patentee 
has the Custody of the Castle, and though it be the 
Prison of the County, yet his interest ought to give 
place to the public weal, and common justice." 

In course of time, the Wardenship became a position 
which was openly sold ; and our old friend Harris 
makes no secret of it. " They likewise alledge that 1° 
Elizabeth it was purchased by Tirrell at the rate of 
160 li. per annum and that long after it was held at 
100 li. per annum, and refused for 200 li. But now that 
(thorough extortion) there is made 4,000 li per annum 
by the relation delivered to one Mr. Shotbolt. 

" To which is answeared, that the purchase paid by 
Tirrell, (as appears bv the deed inroUed) was 6,000 
markes or 4,000 li. which, if it be devided at tenne or 
twelve yeares purchase, being more than an office of 
that nature was worth in those dayes (which is above 
three score yeares past) it will bring 400 li. tenne yeares 
purchase, and therefore here is suior ultra crepidam^ for 
160 li. at that rate would yeild but 1,600 li. in money, 
and there was not then the fift part of the buildings 
and lodgings which now are. 

" Mr. Anslowe (as is credibly informed) held it by 
iyne (and otherwise) at 600 li. per annum, and had but 
some part of the benefitts of the prison, nothing of the 
pallace at Westminster. And as for this Warden's 
valuation of it at 4000 li. per annum, it might be, 
supposeing that if the benefitts of the pallace were had 



262 Bad Discipline. 

&c. But what if the one with the other cost in 
expences 4,000 li. per annum, what will be then 
advanced ? " &c. 

This selling of the Office of Warden, led to a great 
squabble in the early days of Queen Anne's reign, and 
it. seems to have arisen in this way. A Warden of the 
Fleet, named Ford, in the reign of William and Mary, 
was found guilty of suffering one Richard Spencer to 
escape, but was acquitted of some minor charges, and a 
certain Col. Baldwin Leighton obtained a grant of the 
Office on April 6, 1690. One June 25, 1691, this 
grant was quashed, and Leighton soon after died. A 
Mr. Tilley, in the fifth year of William and Mary 
purchased the Inheritance of the said Office, together 
with the Mansion and Gardens thereto appertaining, 
but on Dec. 23, 1704, judgment was given in the 
Queen's Bench that the Office be seized into her 
Majesty's hands, and this was affirmed in Parlia- 
ment. 

The discipline in the prison at this time seems to 
have been very bad, so much so that many witnesses 
who could have spoken of Tilley's misdeeds were 
hindered fi-om giving evidence, some by being put into 
dungeons ; others, by violence, bribes, or other artifices. 
Take a case in point, which happened about this time. 
The case of Robert Elliot and others. "One Francis 
Chartyres was- Arrested at the several Suits of the said 
several Persons, about the 4th of May last, all their 
Debts amounting to 140 1. and upwards, which cost 
them 2D 1. to effect : And the said Francis Chartyres 
being a stubborn and an obstinate Man, and dangerous 



-■ --^ 



Boundaries of the Fleet. 263 

to Arrest, he having killed several Persons upon the 
like attempt, and at this Arrest run the Bayliffs through. 
And after he was taken, he by Habeas Corpus turned 
himself over to the said Fleet Prison. And Mr. 
Tilley, and the Turnkey, and one Whitwood, an 
Officer of the Fleet, were acquainted, by the persons 
above mentioned, what a dangerous Man he was, and 
what it cost them to take him ; but they took no notice 
thereof, and declared they would let him out for all of 
them ; and so they did, and the next Day the said Per- 
sons Arrested him again, and he went over to the Fleet 
a second time, and was immediately set at liberty ; who 
coming to the Persons aforesaid, at whose Suit he was 
Arrested, bid them defiance ; saying, He was ' a Free- 
man^ for that he had given 1 8 Guineas for it, and they 
should never have a farthing of their Debts, which they 
now doubt of, the said Chartyres being gone for Scot- 
land." 

Hatton, in his " New View of London," 1708, gives, 
the boundary of the Rules^ and also descants on the 
pleasantness of the Prison, as an abode. " Fleet Prison, 
situate on the East side of the Ditch, between Ludgate 
Hill and Fleet Lane, but the Rules extend Southward 
on the East side of Fleet Canal to Ludgate Hill, and 
thence Eastward to Cock Ally on the South side of 
Ludgate Hill, and to the Old Bayly on the North, and 
thence Northward in the Old Bayley both sides the 
Street, to Fleet Lane, and all that Lane, and from the 
West End, southward to the Prison again. It is a 
Prison for Debtors from any part of the Kingdom, for 
those that act or speak any thing in contempt of the 



264 



Preference for the Fleet. 



Courts of Chancery and Common Pleas ; and for the 
pleasantness of the Prison and Gardens, and the afore- 
said large extent of its Rules, it is preferred before 
most other Prisons, many giving Money to turn them- 
selves over to this from others." 




CHAPTER XXII. 



THINGS got so bad that Parliament ordered a 
Committee to inquire into it, and they began 
their sitting! in Feb. 25, 1729. But, previously, 
the prisoners had petitioned the Lord Chief Justice 
and other justices without effect, and those petitions 
with Huggins' (who was the Warden) replies were 
published in a foHo pamphlet, which contains much 
information. I The first petition was in 1723, and it 
was mainly addressed to the extortions of the Master, 
the sixth Article alledging that the fees exacted by the 
Warden were in excess of those settled by Law, Nov. 14, 
1693 — instanced as follows: 



For liberty of the House and Irons 


at 


Warden. 

first 




Legal 




coming in 
Chaplain ... 
Entering every Name and Cause 




...L2 




4 

2 


4 




I 



6 




8 

4 


Porter's fee 







I 








I 





Chamberlain's Fee 




... 


3 


c 





1 





The Dismission Fee for every Action 


... 


12 


6 





7 


4 


Turn.key's Dismission 




... 


2 


6 










Ll_ 


5 


_4 


^i 


16 


_4 



^ "A True State of the Proceedings of the Prisoners in the Fleet 
Prison, in Order to the Redressing their Grievances before the 
Court of Comicon Pleas." 



2(}C) CoMI'LAINTS OI TUL WaKDEN. 

The eleventh prayer of this Petition was, *' And 
lastly, that for the better suppressing Prophaneness and 
Immorality among us, and that the Misery of Imprison- 
ment may in some measure be alleviated by the Obser- 
vance of good Manners, Cleanliness, and Quietude, we 
humbly pray your Lordships would enable us to regu- 
late our selves in such Manner as the Prisoners in the 
King's Bench arc empowered to do by a Rule of that 
Court, 20 die post feslim Sancta: Tri7tilatis. 1 1 Anne." 

Iluggins replied to all the petition, but his answer to 
No. 6 was " The Warden saith, That so soon as the 
Fees were settled by this Honourable Court, he caused 
a C(jpy thereof to be framed and hung up in the 
Common Hall of the House, signed by Sir George 
Cook ; also a Copy of the Rules and Orders of the 
House, which said copies the Prisoners were pleased to 
burn, tear to Pieces, and obliterate ; and the Warden 
denies that he has taken or receiv'd, or any for him, to 
his knowledge, more, or greater, Fees than were con- 
tained in the said Copy of Fees hung up in the said 
-^rison. 

And as to the Eleventh prayer of the Petitioners 
"The Warden saith, that the Prisoners in general, are 
so very ung(;vernable, that they have tore up the Trees 
around the Bowling Green, and cut down several of the 
Trees in the back part of the Prison, set by the Warden 
some years since, for the better Accommodation of the 
Prisoners; also broke down the Stocks in the said 
Pris(;n, and the I louses of Easement were fitted up 
lately by the Warden, they have torn it almost to 
Pieces, and committed other Outrages, and most of 



TfiI'. Wardkn ki;i;i's Corpses. 267 

them, altho' two Ycurs in Arrears of Kent to the 
Warden, refuse to pay him any Part thereof, and will 
by Force, and in defiance of the Warden and his. 
Officers, keep in Possession of the Rooms and I'urni- 
tures, Swearing to stand by each other." 

Petition after petition was sent from the Prisoners to 
the Lord Chief Justice about the oppressions of Huggins 
and his myrmidons, and duly answered in some shape 
by the Warden, but there was one, in which the four- 
teenth Charge is as follows. "That the Warden, on 
the Death of any Prisoner detains the Body from his 
Friends and Relations untill they will pay him, what 
Chamber Rent was due from the Deceased ; and in the 
mean Time his cruel and unchristian like Practice, is to 
make the best Bargain he can with the poor Family 
of the Deceased, for the Purchase of the Dead Body, in 
order to give it Christian Burial, at their own J'lxpence, 
by which means he often extorts large Sums of Money, 
for granting the Relations the Liberty of taking away 
and burying the Dead Body ; which tho' a very natural 
and reasonable Desire, is nevertheless often frustrated by 
their Inability to purchase it at his Price, and, rather 
than accept what may be in their I-*ower to give him, 
he often suffers the Dead Body to lye above Ground 
seven or eight Days, and often Times eleven or twelve 
Days, to the great endangering of the Health of the 
whole Prison, by the nauseous Stench, which being 
often times the Case, is very offensive all over the 
House ; and when he has refused what he thought not 
worth his Acceptance, he buries them in the common 
Burying place for Prisoners, when the Body is often 



268 HuGGINS AND BaMBRIDGE. 

taken up by their Friends to be bury'd their own Way, 
and the Warden seizes to his own Use the Cloaths, 
Furniture, and what ever else there is for Fees and 
Chamber Rent, which he pretends to be due from the 
said deceased Prisoner." 

Huggins' reply to this was diabolically insolent. 
" For Answer thereto, My Lords, the Deputy Warden 
saith, That scarcely a Prisoner hath died on the Masters- 
Side, that was not largely indebted to him ; and there- 
fore, possibly, he might have used endeavours to get 
what part of the Money was due to him, as he could 
fairly from the Deceased's Relations." 

But the Cup of his iniquities was rapidly filling. He 
made one Thomas Bambridge " A Newgate Sollicitor^ 
and a Person of abandon' d Credit " (as the petition in 
the case of Mr. Mackphreadris describes him) his 
deputy warden, and then, things came to a climax. As 
we have seen, Parliament took cognizance of the scan- 
dal, and issued a Commission to inquire into the 
matter, and their first sitting was on Feb. 25, 1729. 
Their report was presented to Parliament on March 20th 
of the same year — so that no time was lost in looking 
into the evils complained of. 

It recites that Huggins by a gift of ^5,000 to Lord 
Clarendon " did by his interest, obtain a grant of the 
said office {i.e.^ Warden of the Fleet) for his own and 
his son's life. 

" That it appeared to the Committee, That in the 
Year 1725, one Mr. Arne, an Upholder, was carried 
into a Stable, which stood where the strong room on 
the Master's side now is, and was there confined (being 



Bambridge and Castell. 269 

a place of cold restraint) till he died, and that he was 
in good state of health before he was confined to that 
room." 

Huggins growing old, sold his interest in the 
Wardenship of the Fleet, and his Son's reversion 
therein, to Bambridge and Cuthbert, for the sum he 
had originally given for the place ; and then Bambridge, 
being his own master, went somewhat ahead, and the 
Committee found that he connived at escapes, sent his 
prisoners to Spunging-houses, or private prisons, not so 
long ago done away with, where they were w^ell, or 
badly treated, according to the money at their disposal. 

And we read of one shocking case, which can best 
be given in the very words of the Report. " That 
these houses were further used by the said Bambridge, 
as a terror for extorting money from the prisoners, who, 
on security given, have the liberty of the rules ; of 
which Mr. Robert Castell was an unhappy instance, a 
man born to a competent estate, but being unfortunately 
plunged into debt, was thrown into prison : he was first 
sent (according to custom) to Corbett's,^ from whence 
he, by presents to Bambridge, redeemed himself, and, 
giving security obtained the liberty of the rules ; not- 
withstanding which he had frequently presents, as they 
are called, exacted from him by Bambridge, and was 
menaced, on refusal, to be sent back to Corbett's again. 

" The said Bambridge having thus unlawfully ex- 
torted large sums of money from him in a very short 
time, Castell grew weary of being made such a wretched 
property, and, resolving not to injure further his family 
' A spunging-house. 



270 Bambridge and Castell. 

or his creditors for the sake of so small a liberty, he 
refiased to submit to flirther exactions ; upon which the 
said Bambridge ordered him to be re- committed to 
Corbett's, where the smallpox then raged, though 
Castell acquainted him with his not having had that 
distemper, and that he dreaded it so much, that the 
putting him into a house where it was, would occasion 
his death, which, if it happened before he could settle 
his affairs, would be a great prejudice to his creditors, 
and would expose his family to destitution ; and there- 
fore he earnestly desired that he might either be sent to 
another house, or even into the gaol itself, as a favor. 
The melancholy case of this poor gentleman moved the 
very agents of the said Bambridge to compassion, so 
that they used their utmost endeavours to dissuade him 
from sending this unhappy prisoner to that infected 
house ; but Bambridge forced him thither, where he (as 
he feared he should) caught the smallpox, and, in a 
few days, died thereof, justly charging the said Bam- 
bridge with his death ; and unhappily leaving all his 
affairs in the greatest confusion, and a numerous family 
of small children in the utmost distress." 

He squeezed everybody, made what rules he liked, 
and introduced new and pernicious customs, for, says 
the Report, " It appeared to the Committee, that the 
letting out of the Fleet tenements to Victuallers, for the 
reception of Prisoners, hath been but of late practised, 
and that the first of them let for this purpose was to 
Mary Whitwood, who still continues tenant of the same, 
and that her rent has, from 32 1. per. ann. been in- 
creased to 60 1. and a certain number of prisoners stipu- 



The First Prisoner in Irons. 271 

lated to be made a prey of, to enable her to pay so 
great a rent ; and that she, to procure the benefit of 
having such a number of prisoners sent to her house, 
hath, over and above the increased rent, been obliged 
to make a present to the said Bambridge of forty 
guineas, as also of a toy (as it is called), being the 
model of a Chinese ship, made of amber, set in silver, for 
which fourscore broad pieces had been offered her. . , . 

" And, notwithstanding the payment of. such large 
fees, in order to extort further sums from the unfortu- 
nate prisoners, the said Bambridge unjustly pretends he 
has a right, as warden, to exercise an unlimited power 
of changing prisoners from room to room ; of turning 
them into the common side, though they have paid the 
master's side fee ; and inflicting arbitrary punishments 
by locking them down in unwholesome dungeons, and 
loading them with torturing irons." 

According to the Committee's report, Jacob Mendez 
Solas, a Portuguese, was, as far as they knew, the first 
prisoner that was ever loaded with irons in the Fleet. 
He was thrown into a noisome dungeon, which is de- 
scribed as a place " wherein the bodies of persons dying 
in the said prison are usually deposited, till the coroner's 
inquest hath passed upon them ; it has no chimney, nor 
fireplace, nor any light but what comes over the door, 
or through a hole of about eight inches square. It is 
neither paved nor boarded, and the rough bricks appear 
both on the sides and top, being neither wainscotted, 
nor plastered ; what adds to the dampness and stench of 
the place is, its being built over the common sewer, and 
adjoining to the sink and dunghill where all the nasti- 



272 Acquittal of Huggins and Bambridge. 

ness of the prison is cast. In this miserable place the 
poor wretch was kept by the said Bambridge, manacled 
and shackled for near two months. At length, on 
receiving five guineas from Mr. Kemp, a friend of Sola's, 
Bambridge released the prisoner from his cruel confine- 
ment. But, though his chains were taken off, his terror 
still remained, and the unhappy man was prevailed upon 
by that terror, not only to labour gratis for the said 
Bambridge, but to swear also at random all that he hath 
required of him : and the Committee themselves saw an 
instance of the deep impression his sufferings had made 
upon him ; for on his surmising, from something said, 
that Bambridge was to return again, as Warden of the 
Fleet, he fainted, and the blood started out of his mouth 
and nose." 

The upshot of this Committee was that the House 
petitioned the King to prosecute Huggins, Bambridge, 
and their satellites, who were all ordered to be com- 
mitted to Newgate for trial. Huggins was tried, or 
rather the preliminaries of his trial were arranged on the 
20th of May, 1729; but his trial for the murder of 
Edward Arne, a prisoner in the Fleet prison, by im- 
muring him in the dungeon above described, from the 
effect of which confinement he subsequently died, did 
not take place until next day. After a long and patient 
trial, he was acquitted ; and he managed, not only to 
survive his disgrace, but live to the age of 90. 

Bambridge was also tried, at the Old Bailey, for the 
murder of Robert Castell, as before described, but he was 
acquitted by the Jury. Upon this acquittal, Castell's 
widow brought an appeal against Thomas Bambridge, 



274 



Bambridge and His Prisoners. 



and Richard Corbett, for the murder of her husband ; 
but here their luck still stood them in stead, for they 
were both acquitted. Bambridge, some twenty years 
after, committed suicide by cutting his throat. 

Hogarth, in 1729, received a Commission from Sir 
Archibald Grant of Monnymusk, Bart., who was one 
of the Committee, to paint a portrait picture of his 
brother Commissioners with Bambridge, and the irons 
used by him in the Fleet. Bambridge is decidedly 
nervous — and a poor prisoner is introduced into the 
picture, though I cannot find, from the Report, that he 
really was before the Committee of the House. 




A PRISONER IN IRONS. 



Chapel in the Fleet. 275 

These prosecutions somewhat purified the atmosphere 
of the Fleet, but still there were grumbles, as there 
naturally will be when men are restrained in their liberty, 
and are left to brood upon their miseries, and incarcera- 
tion ; but the little pamphlet,^ whi.ch airs these 
grievances, deals principally with the hardships of fees, 
and the dilapidated state of the Common Side. The 
title-page prepares one for a not over cheerful ten 
minutes' reading. 

" When Fortune keeps Thee Warm ; 
Then Friends will to Thee swarm, 

Like Bees about a Honey pot : 
But, if she chance to frown, 
And rudely kick Thee down, 

Why then — What then ? Lie there and ROT." 

The writer says that after the reign of Huggins 
and Bambridge, the Chapel was adorned — and the 
great Hall adjoining, formerly for the Use of the 
Prisoners, " is now made into a commodious new Coffee 
House, and thought to be as Compleat a one, as any in 
Town (wherein one of the Warden's Servants is put, 
to be useful upon Occasion). Part of the Pews in the 
Chapel being taken into it to make it compleat^- and 
serves for a Bar and Bedchamber. 

" Opposite to the Great Hall, or Coffee Room, is the 
Begging-Grate, where Prisoners had an Opportunity to 
speak with a Friend, and sometimes get Sight of one 

^ " Remarks on the Fleet Prison or Lumber-House for Men and 
Women. Written by a prisoner &c., published in the Fleet, 1733." 
* The italics arc mine. — J. A. 



276 Begging. 

whose Inclinations did not lead him to pay a Visit to 
the Place, wou'd drop a Shilling, and perhaps some 
Beer to the Beggars; but now the same, altho' of an 
ancient standing, is Brick'd up, and the unhappy Persons 
who can't submit to beg, depriv'd of viewing the Street, 
or seeing their Chance Friends." So we see, that 
although the comforts of the inmates had been some- 
what looked after, this little privilege, which they had 
long enjoyed, and, doubtless, as long abused, was taken 
from them. It was, afterwards, restored. 




CHAPTER XXIIl. 



BUT enough of the miserables in connection with 
the Fleet Prison. We shall find that it is even 
possible for a prisoner to write pleasantly, nay, 
even somewhat humorously, upon his position, as we 
may see by the perusal of a poem entitled " The 
Humours of the Fleet. An humorous, descriptive 
Poem. Written by a Gentleman of the College " &c., 
Lond. 1749. Under the frontispiece, which represents 
the introduction of a prisoner into its precincts, is a 
poem of thirty-two lines, of which the following is a 
portion : — 

THE DEBTORS' WELCOME TO THEIR BROTHER- 



^=^- 



7=i^ 



=*=»-i=: 



Wel-come, wel - come, Bro-ther Debt - or, To this poor but mer - ry 



■f'f-^. . . 


— ■ 3 1 1* KL- 


\-=r 


=1 fcH 


r f» — « r 


place. Where no 
^■*—\ f 


-^ >«-» a) — ^ — 

Bay - liff, Dun, or 

n* — ' ! 


Set 


* — ^=^=\ 

6* — ^— 

ter Dare to 

—f • 


shew their fright-ful 

r 1 r 

— • — s — 


^ J 1 


f-l— =z f ' \ 


:t=: 


-^^ 


FV:^:: it: i- 



!28o Admission to the Fleet Prison. 



face. But, kind Sir, as you're a Stran- ger, Down your Gar - nish you must 




lay, Or your Gsat will be in Danger, — You must ei - tbcr strip or pay. 




Here we see, very vividly depicted, the introduction 
of a new prisoner ; the Chamberlain is introducing him 



The Humours of the Fleet. 281 

to the Cook, whilst the Goaler and Tapster seem, already, 
to have made his acquaintance. 

The notes appended to the Poem are in the original. 

After a somewhat long exordium on prosperity and 
poverty, together with the horrors of a spunging- house, 
and imagining that the debtor has obtained his Habeas^ 
which would permit him to choose his prison, the Poet 
thus sings : 

"Close b)' the Borders of a slimy Flood, 
Which now in secret rumbles thro' the Mud ; 
(Tho' heretofore it roll'd expos'd to Light, 
Obnoxious to th' offended City's Sight.) ^ 

" Twin Arches now the Sable Stream enclose 
Upon whose Basis late a Fabrick rose ; 
In whose extended oblong Boundaries, 
Are Shops and Sheds, and Stalls of all Degrees, 
For Fruit, Meat, Herbage, Trinkets, Pork and Peas 
A prudent City Scheme, and kindly meant ; 
The Town's oblig'd, their Worships touch the Rent. 

"Near this commodious Market's miry Verge, 
The Prince of Prisons Stands, compact and large ; 
When, by the Jigger's = more than magick Charm, 
Kept from the Pow'r of doing Good — or Harm, 
Relenting Captives only ruminate 
Misconduct past, and curse their present State ; 
Tho' sorely griev'd, few are so void of Grace, 
As not to wear a seeming chearful Face : 

' Where the Fleet Market is now, there was, a few Years since, 
a Ditch, with a Muddy Channel of Water. The Market was built 
at the expense of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, who 
receive the Rent for it. 

= The Door-keeper, or he who opens and shuts the Jigg,'\^ call'd 
the Jigger. 



282 The Humours of the Fleet. 

In Drinks or Sports ungrateful Thoughts must die. 
For who can bear Heart-wounding Calumny ? 
Therefore Cabals engage of various Sorts, 
To walk, to drink, or play at different Sports : 
Here, on the oblong Table's verdant Plain, 
The ivory Ball bounds, and rebounds again ; 
There, at Backgammon, two sit tete a tett\ 
And curse alternately their Adverse Fate ; 
These are at Cribbage, those at Whist engag'd 
And, as they lose, by turns become enrag'd : 
Some of more sedentary Temper, read 
Chance-medley Books, which duller Dullness breed ; 
Or Politicks in Coffee-Room, some pore 
The Papers and Advertisements thrice o'er : 
Warm'd with the Jlderfna?i,~ some set up late. 
To fix th' Insolvent Bill, and Nation's Fate ; 
Hence, knotty Points at different Tables rise. 
And either Party's wond'rous, wond'rous wise : 
Some of low Taste, ring Hand Bells, direful Noise ! 
And interrupt their Fellows' harmless Joys ; 
Disputes more noisy now a Ouarrel breeds. 
And Fools on both Sides fall to Loggerheads : 
Till wearied with persuasive Thumps and Blows, 
They drink, and Friends, as tho' they ne'er were Foes. 

"Without Distinction, intermix'd is seen, 
A 'Squire quite dirty, a Mechanick clean : 
The Spendthrift Heir, who in his Chariot roll'd. 
All his Possessions gone. Reversions sold. 
Now mean, as once Profuse, the stupid Sot 
Sits by a Runner's Side,3 and shules 4 a Pot. 



^ Billiards is a very common Game here. 

2 Fine Ale drank in the Coffee-Room, call'd the Alderman^ 
because brew'd at Alderman Parson's. 

3 A Runner^ is a Fellow that goes Abroad of Errands for the 
Prisoners. 

•* A common Cant word for Mumping. 



The Humours of the Fleet. 283 

"Some Sots ill-manner'd, drunk, a harmless Fight ! 
Rant noisy thro' the Galleries all Night ; 
For which, if Justice had been done of late. 
The Pump ^ had been three pretty Masters Fate. 
With Stomacks empty, and Heads full of Care 
Some Wretches swill the Pump and walk the Bare ;^ 
Within whose ample Oval is a Court, \ 

Where the more Active and Robust resort, V 
And glowing, exercise a manly Sport j 

(Strong Exercise with mod'rate Food is good, 
It drives in sprightful Streams the circling Blood ;) 
While these with Rackets strike the flying Ball, 
Some play at Nine Pins, Wrestlers take a Fall ; 
Beneath a Tent some drink, and some above 
Are slily in their Chambers making Love ; 
Vejius and Bacchus each keeps here a Shrine, 
And many Vot'ries have to Love and Wine. 

"Such the Amusement of this merry Jail, 
Which you'll not reach, if Friends or Money fail : 
For e'er its three-fold Gates it will unfold. 
The dcstin'd Captive must produce some Gold : 
Four Guineas, at the least, for diff'rent Fees, 
Compleats your Habeas^ and commands the keys ; 
Which done, and safely in, no more you're led. 
If you have Cash, you'll find a Friend and Bed ; 
But, that deficient, you'll but 111 betide. 
Lie in the Hall, 3 perhaps, or Common Side.* 



^ Persons who give any considerable Offence, are often try'd» 
and undergo the Discipline of the Pump. The Author was one ot 
these in a drunken Frolick, for which he condemns himself. 

2 A spacious Place, where there are all Sorts of Exercises, but 
especially Fives. 

3 A Publick Place, free for all Prisoners. 

4 Where those lie who can't pay their Master's Fee. 



284 The Humours of the Fleet. 

" But now around you gazing Jiggers ' swarm, 
To draw your Picture, that's their usual Term ; 
Your Form and Features strictly they survey, 
Then leave you, (if you can) to run away. 

"To them succeeds the Chamberlain, to see 
If you and he are likely to agree ; 
Whether you'll tip,= or pay your Master's Fee. 3 
Ask him how much ? 'Tis one Pound six and eight; 
And, if you want, he'll not the Twopence bate : 
When paid, he puts on an important Face, 
And shews Mount Scoundrel* for a charming Place : 
You stand astonish'd at the darken'd Hole, 
Sighing, the Lord have Merey on my Soul ! 
And ask, have you no other Rooms, Sir, pray ? 
Perhaps enquire what Rent too, you're to pay : 
Entreating that he wou'd a better seek ; 
The Rent (cries gruffly 's) — Half a Crown a Week. 
The Rooms have all a Price, some good, some bad ; 
But pleasant ones at present can't be had : 
This Room, in my Opinion's not amiss ; \ 

Then cross his venal Palm with half a Piece 5 v 
He strait accosts you with another Face. ; 



' There are several of those Jiggers or Doorkeepers, who re- 
lieve one another, and when a Prisoner comes first in, they take a 
nice Observation of him, for fear of his escaping. 

* A cant Word for giving some Money in order to shew a 
Lodging. 

3 Which is One Pound Six Shillings and Eightpence, and then 
you are entitled to a Bed on the Master's Side, for which you pay 
so much per week. 

♦ Mount Scoundrel, so call'd from its being so highly situated, and 
belonging once to the Common Side, tho' lately added to the 
Master's; if there be room in the House, this Place is first empty, 
and the Chamberlain commonly shews this to raise his price upon 
you for a better. 

5 Half a Guinea. 



The Humours of the Fleet. 28^ 

" Sir you're a Gentleman ; — I like you well, 
But who are such at first, we cannot tell ; 
Tho' your Behaviour speaks you what I thought. 
And therefore I'll oblige you as I ought : 

" How your Affairs may stand, I do not know. 
But here. Sir, Cash docs frequently run low. 
I'll serve you, — don't be lavish, — only mum ! 
Take my Advice, I'll help you to a Chum ! ^ 
A Gentleman, Sir, — see, and hear him speak. 
With him you'll pay but fifteen Pence a Week ;^ 
Yet his Apartment 's on the Upper Floor,3 
Well furnish'd, clean and nice ; who'd wish for more ? 
A Gentleman of Wit and Judgment too ! 
Who knows the Place ;■* what's what, and who is who ; 
My Praise, alas ! can't equal his Deserts ; 
In brief, — you'll find him, Sir, a Man of Parts. 

" Thus, while his fav'rite Friend he recommends, 
He compasses at once their several Ends; 
The new come Guest is pleas'd, that he should meet 
So kind a Chamberlain, a Chum so neat : 
But, as conversing thus, they nearer come. 
Behold before his Door, the destin'd Chum. 

"Why stood he there, himself could scarcely tell ; 
But there he had not stood, had Things gone well : 



' A Bedfellow so call'd. 

'■^ When you have a Chum, you pay but 15 Pence per Week 
each, and, indeed, that is the Rent of the whole Room, if you 
find Furniture. 

3 The Upper Floors are accounted best here, for the same reason 
as they arc at Edinburgh, which, I suppose, every Body knows. 

4 It is common to mention the Fleet by the Name of the Place, 
and I suppose it is call'd the Place by way of Eminence, because 
there is not such another. 



286 The Humours of the Fleet. 

Had one poor Half-penny but blest his Fob, 

Or, if in Prospect he had seen a Job, 

H'had strain'ed his Credit for a Dram of Bob,^ 

But now, in pensive Mood, with Head down cast, 

His Eyes transfix'd as tho' they look'd their last ; 

One Hand his open Bosom lightly held, 

And one an empty Breeches Pocket fill'd. 

His Dowlas Shirt no Stock or Cravat bore. 

And on his Head, no Hat or Wig he wore ; 

But a once black shag Cap, surcharg'd with Sweat ; 

His Collar, here a Hole, and there a Pleat; 

Both grown alike in Colour, that — alack ! 

This, neither now was White, nor that was Black ; 

But match'd his dirty yellow Beard so true. 

They form'd a three-fold Cast of Brick dust Hue ; 

Meagre his Look, and in his nether Jaw 

Was stufF'd an elemosynary Chaw ; = 

(Whose Juice serves present Hunger to asswage, 

Which yet returns again with tenfold Rage ;) 

His Coat, which catch'd the Droppings from his Chin, 

Was clos'd at Bottom with a Corking-Pin ; 

His Breeches Waistband a long Skewer made fast, 

While he from Scotland 'DnnghWl^ snatch'd in Haste ; 

His Shirt-Tail thin as Lawn, but not so white. 

Barely conceal'd his lank Affairs from Sight ; 

Loose were his Knee Bands, and unty'd his Hose, 

Coax'd^ in the Heel, in pulling o'er his Toes ; 

Which spite of all his circumspective Care, 

Did thro' his broken dirty Shoes appear. 



^ A Cant Word for a Drain of Geneva, 

2 A Chew of Tobacco, suppos'd to be given him. 

3 The Necessary House, is (by the Prisoners) commonly call'd 
Scotland, near which is a dung-hill. 

4 When there are Holes above Heel, or the Feet are so bad in 
a Stocking, that you are forced to pull them to hide the Holes, or 
cover the Toes, it is called coaxing. 



The Humours of the Fleet. 287 

"Just in this hapless Trim and pensive Plight, 
The old Collegian* stood confess'd to Sight; 
Whom, when our new-come Guest at first beheld. 
He started back, with great Amazement fill'd ; 
Turns to the Chamberlain, says, bless my Eyes ! \ 
Is this the Man you told me was so nice ? V 

I meant his Room was so Sir, he replies ; ) 

The Man is now in Dishabille and Dirt, 
He shaves To-morrow tho', and turns his Shirt ; 
Stand not at Distance, I'll present you, come 
My Friend, how is't ? I've brought you here a Chum ; 
One that's a Gentleman ; a worthy Man, 
And you'll oblige me, serve him all you can. 

"The Chums salute, the old Collegian first 
Bending his Body almost to the Dust ; 
Upon his Face unusual Smiles appear 
And long abandon'd Hope his Spirits chear 
Thought he, Relief's at hand, and I shall eat ; j 
Will you walk in, good Sir, and take a Seat ! V 
We have what's decent here, tho' not compleat ; ) 
As for myself, I scandalize the Room, 
But you'll consider, Sir, that I'm at Home ; 
Tho' had I thought a Stranger to have seen, 
I should have ordered Matters to've been clean ; 
But here, amongst ourselves, we never mind. 
Borrow or lend — reciprocally kind ; 
Regard not Dress ; — tho' Sir, I have a Friend 
Has Shirts enough, and, if you please, I'll send. 
No Ceremony, Sir, you give me Pain ; 
I have a clean Shirt, Sir. — But have you twain ? 



^ As the Prison is often call'd the College, so it is common to 
call a prisoner, a Collegiafi ; and this character is taken from a 
man who had been many Years in the Place, and like to continue 
his Life; but it is hard for those who had not seen him to judge 
of the Truth of the Draught. 



288 The Humours of the Fleet. 

O, yes, and twain to boot, and those twice told, 
Besides, I thank my Stars, a Piece of Gold. 
Why, then I'll be so free. Sir, as to borrow, 
I mean a Shirt, Sir, — only till To-morrow. 
You're welcome. Sir, — I'm glad you are so free. 
Then turns the old Collegian round with Glee ; 
Whispers the Chamberlain with secret Joy, 
We live to-night ! — I'm sure he'll pay his Foy : 
Turns to his Chum again with Eagerness, 
And thus bespeaks him with his best Address ; 

"See, Sir, how pleasant, what a Prospect's there ; 
Below you see them sporting on the Bare ; 
Above, the Sun, Moon, Star, engage the Eye, 
And those Abroad can't see beyond the Sky : 
These rooms are better far than those beneath, 
A clearer Light, a sweeter Air we breath ; 
A decent Garden does our Window grace. 
With Plants untainted, undistain'd the Glass ; 
And welcome Showers descending from above 
In gentle Drops of Rain, which Flowers love : 
In short. Sir, nothing can be well more sweet : 
But, I forgot — perhaps you chuse to eat ; 
Tho', for my part, I've nothing of my own, 
To-day I scrap'd my Yesterday's Blade Bone ; 
But we can send — Ay, Sir, with all my Heart, 
(Then very opportunely enters Smart).^ 
O, here's our Cook, he dresses all Things well ; 
Will you sup here, or do you chuse the Cell ? 
There's mighty good Accommodations there. 
Rooms plenty, or a Box in Bartholm' Fair ; ^ 
There, too, we can divert you, and may shew 
Some Characters are worth your while to know, 



' The name of the Cook in the Kitchen. 

2 A place in the Cellar, called Bartholomew Fair, 



The Humours of the Fleet. 289 

Replies the new Collegian, nothing more 

I wish to see, be pleas'd to go before ; 

And, Smart, provide a handsome Dish for Four. 

" Too generous Man ! but 'tis our hapless Fate 
In all Conditions, to be wise too late ; 
For, even in Prison, those who have been free. 
Will shew, if able, Generosity ; 
Yet find, too soon, when lavish of their Store, 
How hard, when gone, it is to come at more ; 
And every Artifice in vain explore. 
Some Messages Abroad, by Runners send. 
Some Letters write to move an absent Friend ; 
And by Submission, having begg'd a Crown, 
In one night's Revel here they'll kick it down.^ 
'Tis true, this one Excuse they have indeed, 
When others Cole it,^ they as freely bleed ; 3 
When the Wind's fair, and brings in Ships with Store + 
Each spends in turn, and trusts to Fate for more. 

" The future Chums and Chamberlain descend 
The Dirt 5 knot Stairs, and t'wards the kitchen bend ; 
Which gain'd, they find a merry Company, 
Listening to Tales (from Smart) of Baudry, 
All introduced with awkward Simile,^ 
Whose Applications miss the Purpose pat. 
But in the Fire now burns th' unheeded Fat, 



^ A phrase for spending Money fast. 
^ Cole, signifies Money. 

3 Bleed also signifies spending. 

4 When a Messenger or Friend brings Money from abroad to 
the Prisoners, it is usual to say a Ship is arriv'd. 

s Some of the Dirt upon the Stairs is trod into knots so hard it 
is almost impossible to break it. 

^ Smart generally begins his Stories with a Tkat^s like, &c., tho* 
it is not at all like the Story he tells. 

20 



290 The Humours of the Fleet. 

Whose sudden Blaze brings L — nd — r ' roaring in ; 
Then Smart looks foolish, and forsakes his Grin. 
The laughing Audience alter, too, their Tone, 
For who can smile, that sees Tom L — nd — r frown ? 
He, magisterial rules the panic Cell, 
And rivals Belzebub, — in looking well : 
Indignant now, he darts malicious Eyes, 
While each Dependant from the Kitchen flies ; 
Leaves S?nart to combat with his furious Ire, 
Who heeds him not, but strives to clear the Fire; 
Blowing and stirring still, no Pains he spares. 
And mute remains, while Major Domo swears ; 
Who bellows loud Anathemas on Smart, 
And the last Curse he gives is D — n your Heart ; 
His trembling Lips are pale, his Eyeballs roll ; 
Till, spent with Rage, he quits him with a Growl. 

"Now, as our new-come Guest observ'd this Scene, 
(As odd an one, perhaps, as could be seen) 
He first on Smart, next on his Master gaz'd. 
And at the two extreams seem'd much amaz'd ; 
Which Smart perceiving, says in sober Mood, 
Sir, I've a thousand Times his Fury stood ; 
But, yet, the Man tho' passionate, is good ; 
I never speak when he begins to bawl. 
For, should I swear like him, the House would fall." 

Here follow two or three pages of but little interest 
to the reader and the Story continues : 

" But I forgot ; — the Stranger and his Chum, 
With t'other to, to BartBTmew Fair are come ; 
Where, being seated, and the Supper past. 
They drink so deep, and put about so fast. 



^ The Master of the Cellar, a Man of a variable Temper, very 
passionate, malicious, and ill-natur'd at some times, at others very 
well. 



The Humours of the Fleet. 291 

That 'ere the warning Watchman walks about, 
With dismal Tone repeating, — Who goes out ? ^ 
'Ere St. Paul's Clock no longer will withold 
From striking Ten, and the Voice cries, — All told.^ 
'Ere this, our new Companions, every one 
In roaring Mirth and Wine, so far were gone, 
That every Sense from ev'ry Part was fled. 
And were with Difficulty got to Bed ; 
Where in the Morn, recover'd from his Drink, 
The new Collegian may have Time to think ; 
And, recollecting how he spent the Night, 
Explore his Pockets, and not find a Doit. 

" Too thoughtless Man ! to lavish thus away 
A Week's Support in less than half a Day ; 
But 'tis a Curse attends this wretched Place, 
To pay for dear bought Wit in little Space : 
The Time shall come, when this new Tenant here. 
Will in his Turn skule for a Pot of Beer ; 
Repent the melting of his Cash too fast, 
And snap at Strangers for a Nights Repast." 



^ Who goes out ? is repeated by Watchmen Prisoners, from half 
an Hour after Nine, till St. Paul's Clock strikes Ten, to give 
Visitors Notice to depart. 

2 While St. Paul's Clock is striking Ten, the Watchmen don't 
call Who goes out ? but when the last Stroke is given, they cry All 
told! at which Time the Gates are lock'd, and nobody suffer'd to 
go out upon any Account. 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

WE saw in the lines, under the Frontispiece to the 
foregoing poem, Garnish was mentioned, and 
the fact was stated as a Custom then in force 
of taking the prisoner's coat to pay for his fees on 
entrance. 

"But kind Sir, as you'r a Stranger, 
Down your Garnish you must lay. 
Or your Coat will be in danger. 
You must either Strip or pay." 

In the Criminal prisons, the prisoners themselves 
demanded Garnish from a new-comer, that is, a trifle 
of money — to drink. In 1708, at Newgate, this sum 
seems to have been Six shillings and Eightpence 
" Which they, from an old Custom, claim by Prescrip- 
tion, Time out of Mind, for entring into the Society^ 
otherwise they strip the poor Wretch, if he has not 
wherewithal to pay it." ^ And in the old Play of the 
Lying Lover we are introduced to a Scene in Newgate 

^ " Memoirs of the Right Villanous John Hall," &c. 



294 



Garnish. 



where the prisoners are demanding Garnish from some 
new-comers. 

" Storm. Nay, nay, you must stay here. 

Simon. Why, I am Simofi, Madam Penelope s Man. 

Storm. Then Madam Penelope^ s Man must strip for Garnish ; 
indeed Master Simon you must. 

Simon. Thieves ! Thieves ! Thieves ! 

Storm. Thieves ! Thieves ! Why, you senseless Dog, do 
you think there's Thieves in Newgate ? Away with 
him to the Tap House {Pushes him o_ff). We'll drink 
his Coat ofF. Come, my little Chymist, thou shalt 
transmute this Jacket into Liquor." 

l^et although this custom was general, I have only 
once met with an engraving of the actual process, which, 
judging by the man's agonized countenance, was not a 




Garnish. 295 

pleasant one to him. It occurs in the frontispiece to a 
little pamphlet called ''An Oration on the Oppression 
of Jailors ; which was spoken in the Fleet Prison, on 
the 20th of February, 173^," &c. And under the 
engraving, are these lines. 

" Unhappy, friendless Man ! how hard thy Fate ! 
Whose only Crime is being Unfortunate. 
Are Jailors sufFer'd in such Acts as these ? 
To strip the Wretch, who cannot pay his Fees ? 
Is there no kind Samaritan will lend 
Relief, and save him from th' accursed Fiend ?" 

Respecting this practice let us hear what Howard in 
his "State of the Prisons in England and Wales," 1777, 
says, in his Chapter on " Bad Customs in Prisons." 
" A cruel custom obtains in most of our Goals, which 
is that of the prisoners demanding of a new comer 
Garnish, Footing, or (as it is called in some London 
Gaols) Chummage. ' Pay or strip ' are the fatal words. 
I say fatal^ for they are so to some ; who having no 
money, are obliged to give up part of their scanty 
apparel ; and, if they have no bedding or straw to sleep 
on, contract diseases, which I have known to prove 
mortal. 

In many Gaols, to the Garnish paid by the new- 
comer, those who were there before, make an addition ; 
and great part of the following night is often spent in 
riot and drunkenness. The gaoler or tapster finding 
his account in this practice, generally answers questions 
concerning it with reluctance. Of the Garnish which I 
have set down to sundry prisons, I often had my infor- 



296 



The " Common Side." 



mation from persons who paid it. . . . In some places, 
this demand has been lately waved : in others, strictly- 
prohibited by the Magistrates " — so that we see that 
this custom was already in its death throes, in the last 
quarter of the eighteenth century. 

But in the interval between Bambridge and Howard, 
the prison was not a pleasant place of residence, if we 
may judge from " The Prisoner's Song " published in 
1738, of which I give an illustration and the Words. 




^^2!^r^^^- 



THE FLEET PRISON. 



" A Starving life all day we lead, 

No Comfort here is found, 
At Night we make one Common bed, 

Upon the Boarded Ground ; 
Where fleas in troops and Bugs in shoals 

Into our Bosoms Creep, 
And Death watch, Spiders, round y^ Walls, 

Disturb us in our Sleep. 



Howard's Report. 297 

Were Socrates alive, and Bound 

With us to lead his life, 
'Twould move his Patience far beyond 

His crabbed Scolding Wife ; 
Hard Lodging and much harder fare. 

Would try the wisest Sage, 
Nay ! even make a Parson Swear, 

And curse the Sinful Age. 

Thus, we Insolvent debtors live, 

Yet we may Boldly say. 
Worse Villains often Credit give. 

Than those that never pay ; 
For wealthy Knaves can with applause 

Cheat on, and ne'er be try'd. 
But in contempt of human Laws, 

In Coaches Safely ride." 

When Howard visited this prison in 1774 and 1776, 
he found on the former occasion 171 prisoners in the 
House, and 71 in the Rules. On the latter there 
were 241 in the House and 78 in the Rules. And he 
says : 

" The Prison was rebuilt a few years since. At the front 
is a narrow courtyard. At each end of the building there 
is a small projection, or wing. There are four floors, 
they call them Galleries, besides the Cellar floor, called 
Bartholomew-Fair. Each gallery consists of a passage 
in the middle, the whole length of the Prison, i.e.^ sixty 
six yards ; and rooms on each side of it about fourteen 
feet and a half by twelve and a half, and nine and a half 
high. A chimney and window in every room. The 
passages are narrow (not seven feet wide) and darkish, 
having only a window at each end. 



298 Howard's Report. 

"■ On the first floorj the Hail Gallery^ to which you 
ascend eight steps, are a Chapel, a Tap room, a Coffee 
room (lately made out of two rooms for Debtors), a 
room for the Turnkey, another for the Watchman, and 
eighteen rooms for Prisoners. 

Besides the Coffee-room and Tap-room, two of those 
eighteen rooms, and all the cellar-floor, except a lock up 
room to confine the disorderly, and another room for 
the Turnkey, are held by the Tapster, John Cartwright, 
who bought the remainder of the lease at public auction 
in 1775. The cellar floor is sixteen steps below the 
hall Gallery. It consists of the two rooms just now 
mentioned, the Tapster's kitchen, his four large beer 
and wine Cellars, and fifteen rooms for Prisoners. 
These fifteen, and the two before mentioned, in the hall 
gallery, the Tapster lets to Prisoners for four to eight 
shillings a week. 

" On xh^first Gallery (that next above the hall-gallery) 
are twenty-five rooms for Prisoners. On the second 
Gallery^ twenty seven rooms. One of them, fronting 
the staircase, is their Committee room. A room at one 
end is an Infirmary. At the other end, in a large room 
over the Chapel, is a dirty Billiard-table, kept by the 
Prisoner who sleeps in that room. On the highest story 
there are twenty seven rooms. Some of these upper 
rooms, vi-z.^ those in the wings, are larger than the rest, 
being over the Chapel, the Tap-room, &c. 

" All the rooms I have mentioned are for the 
Master's side Debtors. The weekly rent of those not 
held by the Tapster, is one shilling and three pence un- 
furnished. They fall to the Prisoners in succession,. 



Howard's Report. 299 

thus : when a room becomes vacant, the first Prisoner 
upon the list of such as have paid their entrance-fees, 
takes possession of it. When the Prison was built, the 
Warden gave each Prisoner his choice of a room, 
according to his seniority as Prisoner. . . . Such of the 
Prisoners (on the Common Side) as swear in Court, or 
before a Commissioner that they are not worth five 
pounds, and cannot subsist without charity, have the 
donations which are sent to the Prison, and the begging 
box, and grate. Of them there were, at my last visit, 
sixteen. . . . 

" I mentioned the billiard table. They also play in 
the yard at skittles, missisipi, fives, tennis, &c. And 
not only the Prisoners ; I saw among them several 
butchers and others from the Market ; who are admitted 
here, as at another public house. The same may be 
seen in many other Prisons where the Gaoler keeps or 
lets the tap. Besides the inconvenience of this to 
Prisoners ; the frequenting a Prison lessens the dread of 
being confined in one. 

o 

" On Monday night there is a Wine Club : on 
Thursday night a- Beer Club; each lasting usually till 
one or two in the morning. I need not say how much 
riot these occasion ; and how the sober Prisoners are 
annoyed by them, 

" Seeing the Prison crowded with women and Chil- 
dren, I procured an accurate list of them ; and found that 
on (or about), the 6th of April, 1776, when there were, 
on the Master's side 213 Prisoners; on the Common 
side 30. Total 243 ; their wives (including women of an 
appellation not so honorable) and children, were 475." 



300 Regulations of the Prison. 

In Howard's time the fees payable by the Prisoners 
were the same as were settled in 1729 after the trials of 
Huggins and Bambridge ; but the prisoners exercised a 
kind of local self-government, for he writes : — 

" There is, moreover, a little Code of Laws, eighteen 
in number, enacted by the Master's-side Debtors, and 
printed by D. Jones, 1774. It establishes a President, 
a Secretary, and a Committee, which is to be chosen 
every month, and to consist of three members from each 
Gallery. These are to meet in the Committee room 
every Thursday ; and at other times when summoned 
by the Cryer, at command of the President, or of a 
majority of their own number. They are to raise con- 
tributions by assessment; to hear complaints; determine 
disputes; levy fines; and seize goods for payment. Their 
Sense to be deemed the sense of the whole House. The 
President or Secretary to hold the cash ; the Committee 
to dispose of it. Their Scavenger to wash the Galleries 
once a week ; to water, and sweep them every morning 
before eight ; to sweep the yard twice every week ; and 
to light the lamps all over the House. No person to 
throw out water, &c., anywhere but at the sinks in the 
yard. The Cryer may take of a Stranger a penny for 
calling a Prisoner to him ; and of a Complainant two 
pence for summoning a Special Committee. F'or blas- 
phemy, swearing, riot, drunkenness, &c., the Committee 
to fine at discretion ; for damaging a lamp, fine a shilling. 
They are to take from a New Comer, on the first Sun- 
day, besides the two shillings Garnish, to be spent in 
wine, one shilling and sixpence to be appropriated to 
the use of the House. 



Gordon Riots. 301 

" Common-side Prisoners to be confined to their own 
apartments, and not to associate with these Law- 
makers, nor to use the same conveniences." 

In 1780 the famous Lord George Gordon, or "No 
Popery " Riots took place — those Riots which were so 
intensely Protestant, that (according to the Contem- 
porary Gentleman's Magazine) '^ The very Jews in 
Houndsditch and Duke's Place were so intimidated, 
that they followed the general example, and uninten- 
tionally gave an air of ridicule to what they understood 
in a very serious light, by writing on their Shutters, 
" This House is a true Protestant." 

These Riots are very realistically brought before us 
in Charles Dickens' *' Barnaby Rudge," but then, 
although the account is fairly historically faithful, yet 
the weaving of his tale necessarily interfered with strict 
historical details ; which, by the way, are extremely 
meagre as to the burning of the Fleet prison. The fact 
was, that, for the few days the riot existed, the outrages 
were so numerous, and the Newspapers of such small 
dimensions, that they could only be summarized, and 
the burning of Newgate eclipsed that of the Fleet. But, 
on the Wednesday, June 7, 1780, the Annual Register, 
p. 261 (which certainly has the best description I have 
been able to see) absolutely breaks down, saying : — 

" It is impossible to give any adequate description of 
the events of Wednesday. Notice was sent round to the 
public prisons of the King's Bench, Fleet, &c., by the 
mob, at what time they would come and burn them 
down. The same kind of infernal humanity was exer- 



302 Burning of the Fleet Prison. 

cised towards Mr. Langdale, a distiller in Holborn, 
whose loss is said to amount to ^^ 100,000, and several 
other Romish individuals. In the afternoon all the 
shops were shut, and bits of blue silk, by way of flags, 
hung out at most houses, with the words '^ No Popery " 
chalked on the doors and window shutters, by way of 
deprecating the fury of the insurgents, from which no 
person thought himself secure. 

'^ As soon as the day was drawing towards a Close, 
one of the most dreadful spectacles this country ever 
beheld was exhibited. Let those, who were not spec- 
tators of it, judge what the inhabitants felt when they 
beheld at the same instant the flames ascending and 
rolling in clouds from the King's Bench and Fleet 
Prisons, from New Bridewell, from the toll gates on 
Blackfriars Bridge, from houses in every quarter of the 
town, and particularly from the bottom and middle of 
Holborn, where the Conflagration was horrible beyond 
description." 

The burning of the Fleet was done calmly and 
deliberately, as is well told in " A Narrative of the 
Proceedings of Lord Geo. Gordon," &c., 1 780. " About 
one o'clock this morning (Tuesday, June 6), the Mob 
went to the Fleet Prison, and demanded the gates to be 
opened, which the Keepers were obliged to do, or they 
would have set fire to it. They were then proceeding to 
demolish the prison, but the prisoners expostulating with 
them, and begging that they would give them time to 
remove their goods, they readily condescended, and gave 
them a day for that purpose, in consequence of which, 
the prisoners were removing all this day out of that 



Fleet Prison Re-built. 



303 



place. Some of the prisoners were in for life." And in 
the evening of the next day, they fulfilled their threat, 
and burnt it. This was the second time it had been 
burnt down, for the great fire of 1666 had previously 
demolished it. 

It was rebuilt, and remained the same, with some few 
alterations and additions until its final destruction. We 
get a good view " the Bare " or racket ground in 1808, 
an outline of which I have taken from Pugin and Row- 
landson's beautiful "Microcosm of London," 1808,^ 




RACKETS IN THE FLEET PRISON, I760. 
(Published by Bowles and Carver, 69, Si. PauT's Churchyard.) 

according to which book, " The Fleet Prison, it is 
believed, after the fire of London in 1666, was removed 
to that site of ground upon which the almshouses 
through Vauxhall turnpike, on the Wandsworth road, 
now stand, until the old prison was rebuilt, Sir Jeremy 
Whichcott, then Warden, having his family seat there, 
which he converted into a prison ; for which patriotic 
^ See next page. 



304 



The "Bare." 



act, and rebuilding the old one at his own expence, he 
and his heirs were wardens as long as they lived. The 
Office of Warden of the Fleet was formerly of such 










consequence, that a brother of one of the Edwards is 
said to have been in the list of Wardens." 

In this illustration we find the prisoners by no means 



Racket Master. 305 

moody, but playing at rackets and skittles. The 
Racket ground was under the superintendence of a 
Racket Master, who was elected by the Collegians, 
annually at Christmas. This post was eagerly sought 
after, as it was one to which some pecuniary profit was 
attached, a small fee being demanded from each person, 
the Racket Master having to find bats and balls. I 
have before me three printed handbills of aspirants for 
the post in 1841. One bases his claim on the fact that 
he is already Racket Master, and says, " I feel the situa- 
tion is one that requires attention and unceasing exertion, 
not so much from the individual position, as from the 
circumstance that the amusement, and (what is more 
vitally important) the health of my fellow inmates is 
in some measure placed in the hands of the person 
appointed." Another candidate pleads as a qualification, 
that he has served as Watchman for Seven years, and at 
last election for Racket Master, he only lost the appoint- 
ment by five votes. And the third publishes the caution 
" Collegians, Remember ! All Promises that have been 
(sic) before the Vacancy, are Null and Void ! ! ! " 
This gentleman was determined to secure, if possible, 
some of the good things going about, for, at this very 
same Annual Election, he issues another circular, 
*' Having had many years experience in the Tavern 
Department and Eating House Business, I beg leave to 
offer myself for the Situation in the Public Kitchen, now 
about to become vacant." He, too, had an opponent, 
who had been engaged for nine years as a baker, and 
was, by profession, a Cook. The Office of Skittle 
Master was also contested in that year ; the holder of 

21 



3o6 



A Whistling Shop. 



the place being opposed by one whose claim to the 
position seems to be that he had a wife and one child. 

They made themselves merry enough in the Fleet, 
as we read in Egan's '' Life in London," where Jerry 
Hawthorn, and Corinthian Tom, visit Bob Logic, who 
was detained in the Fleet. Among other places there, 
they went to a Whisthng Shop — of which the brothers 
Robert and George Cruikshank have given a faithful 
representation. Here at a table, screened off from the 
draught of the door we see, Tom, Jerry, and the 
unfortunate Logic, whilst the other frequenters of the 




A WHISTLING SHOP IN THE FLEET, 1S2I. 

place are excellently depicted. Spirits were not allowed 
in the prison, under any circumstances, other than by 
the doctor's order ; but it is needless to say, the regu- 



A Whistling Shop. 



307 



lation was a dead letter. Of course it was not sold 
openly, but there were rooms, known to the initiated 
where it could be procured. It was never asked for, 
and if it were the applicant would not have received it, 
but if you whistled, it would be at once forthcoming. 

Says Logic to his Corinthian friends, " ' In the 
evening I will introduce you both to my friend the 




Haberdasher. He is a good whistler ; and his shop 
always abounds with some prime articles which you 
will like to look at.' The Trio was again complete ; 
and a fine dinner, which the Corinthian had pre- 
viously ordered from a Coffee house, improved their 
feelings : a glass or two of wine made them as gay as 
larks; and a hint from Jerry to Logic about the 
.Whistler, brought them into the shop of the latter in 



3o8 



A Mock. Election. 



a twinkling. Hawthorn, with great surprise, said, 
' Where are we ? this is no haberdasher s. It is a ' 




* No nosing, Jerry,' replied Logic, with a grin, 'You 
are wrong. The man is a dealer in tape' " ^ 
^ A cant word for gin. 



DUM ViVIMUS, ViVAMUS." 



309 



There was a class in the Fleet, who acted, as far as in 
their power lay, up to the Epicurean " dum vivimus 
vivamus" and among them the prison, however incon- 
venient it might have been, was made the best of, and 
the door of the Cupboard which contained the skeleton 
was shut as far as it would go. We have an exempli- 
fication of this in Robert Cruikshank's water colour 
drawing of " The Evening after a Mock Election in 
the Fleet Prison," June, 1835. In this drawing, which 
I have simply outlined (see previous page), we get a graphic 
glimpse at the uproarious fun that obtained among a cer- 
tain set. The gradations in Society of this singular mix- 
ture is well shown in the following key to the picture : 



1. Bennett the Candidate. 

2. Mr. Fellowcs of the Crown 

P. H. Fleet Street. 

3. Mr. Houston, alias Jack in 

the Green. 

4. Mr. Perkins, alias Harlequin 

Billy (Architect), who tried 
to sink a shaft at Spithead to 
supply the Navy with Water. 

5. Mr. Shackleford (Linen 

Draper). 

6. Mr. Bennett, the Watchman. 

7. Geo. Weston, Esqr. (Banker, 

of the Boro'). 

8. Mr. Hutchinson (Dr. at 

Liverpool). 

9. L. Goldsmith, Esqre. 

10. Mr. Thompson (Irishman). 

1 1. Robert Barnjum alias Rough 

Robin (Hammersmith 
Ghost). 

12. Robert Ball, alias Manches- 

ter Bob (wore a Mur- 
derer's Cap). 



13. Captain Wilde, R.N. 

14. Mr. Hales, the Cook. 

15. Mr. Walker. 

16. Captain McDonnough, 

lith Hussars (real gentle- 
man). 

17. Mr. Halliday (Manchester 

Merchant). 

18. Harry Holt the Prize 

Fighter. 

19. Captain Penniment (Trad- 

ing Vessel, Yorkshire). 

20. Mr. Palmer, Cutler to Geo. 

IIL, near the Haymarket 
Theatre. 

21. Mr. Scrivener (Landlord of 

the Tap). 

22. Captain Oliver, Smuggler 

and Tapster. Capias, 

;£l 17,000. 

23. Mr. Goldsbury, alias Jails- 

bury, driver of omnibus all 
round the Fleet. 

24. Mr. George Kent. 



3IO Number of Prisoners. 

As a souvenir of the talented Isaac Robert Cruik- 
shank, I append a facsimile of his autograph, which 
was written in the Parlour, No. i6, Hall, in the Fleet 
Prison, June 24, 1842. His method of utilizing the 
blot of Ink is unique. 

The remaining Notices of the Fleet must be taken 
as they come, as far as possible, chronologically — and 
first of all let us look at the enormous quantity of people 
who were imprisoned for debt. In the Mirror , No. 
615, vol. xxii. July 20, 1833, is a cutting from the 
Thnes : ^' By the return of persons imprisoned for 
debt in 1832, in England and Wales, just printed by 
order of the House of Commons, it appears that the 
gross number was 16,470: of whom maintained them- 
selves 4,093, so that three fourths of the whole were 
too poor to provide themselves with bread." 

The terrible destitution to which some prisoners 
were reduced is shown in an extract from the Morning 
Herald of August 12, 1833. 

" Guild hall. A Gentleman complained that the 
Overseers of St. Bride's had refused to relieve a dis- 
tressed prisoner in the Fleet. The Prisoner was Mr. 
Timothy Sheldvake, who had been well known for his 
skill in treating deformities of the body. He once kept 
his carriage, and obtained ^4,000 a year by his practice, 
but he was now quite destitute. He was eighty years 
of Age, and of that temper that he would rather starve 
than make a complaint. When applicant saw him he 
had actually fasted forty -eight hours. St. Bride's Parish 
had assisted the unfortunate Gentleman, but they denied 



312 Destitution. 

that he was legally entitled to such relief. The Applicant 
contended that, as the Prison was in St. Bride's parish, 
and was rated at ^^70 a year, St. Bride's was bound to 
afford casual relief to those within the walls of the 
prison, and to recover it from the respective parishes to 
which those who have been relieved belonged. 

'* The Vestry Clerk said, relief must be given out of 
the County rate. 

" Sir C. Marshall said he would take time to consider 
the Point, but he thought a sufficient relief should be 
afforded out of the County rate." 




CHAPTER XXV. 



TN a Return of the number of persons in the several 
Gaols of England, confined for Debt, ordered by 
the House of Commons to be printed, May 13, 1835, 
we have an '^ Account of the Number of Persons 
confined for Debt in the Fleet Prison during the 
following Years : 

1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 

Number confined 742 700 884 746 769 

Number charged in Execution 105 136 134 126 156 

And the amount of the debt and costs for which each 
party was so charged varied from ^2 to ^18,017. 

I look in vain in the Times for the paragraph to 
which the Warden alludes in the following letter : 

*' The Warden presents his compliments to the Editor 
of the Times, and begs to state, that a paragraph having 
appeared in the paper of this morning, stating that the 



314 Escape of Prisoner. 

Fleet Prison is very full, and that a guinea and a half 
a week is paid for a single room, and that four, five, 
and six persons are obliged to live in a small apartment. 

*' The Warden, not being aware of this, should it in 
any case exist, and which is contrary to the established 
regulations against any person so offending, the prison 
not being so full as in former years, there being con- 
siderably less, on an average, than two prisoners to each 
Room, and being also exceedingly healthy. 

" The Warden has also to add, that the^ rest of the 
paragraph relating to the Fleet is totally without 
foundation. 

"Fleet Prison, March 7, 1836." 

In the outside sheet of the Times, February 21, 
1838, occurs the following advertisement : "One 
Hundred Pounds Reward. — Escape. — Escaped 
from the Fleet Prison, on the evening of Wednesday 
the 14th day of February instant. Alfred Morris, 
late of 22 Dean Street, Tooley Street, Southwark. 
The said Alfred Morris is about 30 years of Age, 
about 5 feet 6 inches high, dark complexion, and of a 
Jewish Caste, prominent Nose, somewhat flat pointed, 
dark, irregular whiskers, stout figure, and rather bow 
legged," &c., &c. 

Anent this escape, the 'Times of February 1 6th has a 
paragraph such as we can hardly imagine ever could 
have appeared in a paper so steady and sober, as the 
Times now is: "The Warden of the Fleet — 
(From a Correspondent). Yesterday a gentleman of 
some misfortune and of great appearance, for he wore 



Escape of Prisoner. 



315 



a wig, moustaches, and a Spanish Cloak, was Introduced 
as an inmate of Brown's Hotel, so called from the 
Warden having a license to sell wines, beer, and ale to 
his prisoners, through the ' patent never ending always 
improving Juddery spigot and fawcet tap,' &c. In 
about half an hour the said bewhiskered gentleman 
leaves cloak, wig, and moustaches in the room of a 
Mishter Abrahams, a prisoner, and walks quietly out, 
very politely bidding the turnkey 'good morning,' At 
night the excellent crier of the Prison, Mr. Ellis, made 
the galleries echo, and the rooms re-echo, with his 
sometimes very cheering voice (when he announces to 
those who wish such things as a discharge, for it is not 
all who do), in calling, altissimo voce^ ' Mr. Alfred 
Morrison ! Mr. Alfred Morrison ! Mr. Alfred Morri- 
son ! ' but as no Mr. Alfred Morrison answered to the 
interesting call, every room was searched in the due 
performance of the crier's duty, but no Mr. Alfred 
Morrison was to be found. And the Worthy and 
excellent warder, the keeper of so many others in, is 
himself let in to the tune of £2,600 ; some say more, 
none say less. 

' Go it, ye cripples ! crutches are cheap ! 
W. Brown is no longer asleep ! ' " 

In a leading article in the Times of November 13, 
1838, upon juvenile crime, and the incitors thereto, 
we read the following : " The Traders in crime do not 
wholly confine their seductions to the young; they 
often find apt scholars among the unfortunates of riper 



3i6 A Gang of Forgers. 

years, especially in the debtor's prison. Mr. Wakefield ^ 
says he knows many such victims ; and he particu- 
larizes one 'Who was not indeed executed, because he 
took poison the night before he was to have been 
executed, who told me he had been, (and who I firmly 
believe was) first incited to crime when a Prisoner in 
the Fleet for debt. The crime into which he was seduced 
was that of passing forged Bank of England Notes. He 
was a Man of very showy appearance, and he had been 
a Captain in the Army ; a man of good family. He 
said this crime was first suggested to him by persons 
who were Prisoners in the Fleet ; but he afterwards 
discovered, having been a Prisoner there more than 
once, that one of a gang of Utterers of forged Notes 
lived constantly in the Fleets and for no other purpose 
but that of inducing reckless young men of good 
appearance, who could easily pass notes, to take Notes 
from them, and to dispose of them in transactions. I 
could hardly believe that that was true, and I got some 
inquiries to be made for the person whom he had 
pointed out to me as one of a Gang, and I found that 
that person was constantly in the Fleet. The Gang 
committed a robbery upon a Bank in Cornwall, and 
they Vv^ere entirely broken up, and from that time forth 
the Person who had resided in the Fleet disappeared, 
though he was not one of the persons convicted, or 
suspected of that particular Crime. I never heard of 
him since, but the inquiries which I then made, con- 
vinced me that it was a fact that one of the Gang of 

^ Evidence of Mr. Wakefield before Parliamentary Committee 
of 1837. 



Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt. 317 

what are termed ' family men,' that is, rich thieves and 
receivers of stolen goods, did reside continually in the 
Fleet, for the purpose of seducing young men into the 
commission of Crime. He was in and out of the 
Prison, but a Prisoner on a friendly arrest." 

The time was coming, when imprisonment for debt 
was to be abolished. An Act of i & 2 Vict. cap. no 
had already abolished Arrest on Mesne Process in Civil 
Actions, so that no prisoners could be committed to 
the Fleet from the Courts of Chancery, Exchequer, and 
Common Pleas, and the Debtors and Bankrupts might 
as well be in the Queen's Bench. The Demolition of 
the Fleet was therefore confidently anticipated, as we 
find by the following paragraph from the Times, March 
3, 1 841. "Removal of Prisoners. On Saturday a 
deputation from the Woods and Forests, attended by 
the Marshal, visited the Queen's Bench Prison, prepara- 
tory to moving over the Debtors from the Fleet, which 
prison is about to be pulled down. By this arrange- 
ment the Country will save about ^^ 15,000 per annum, 
besides getting rid of an ugly object, and room being 
made for other contemplated improvements. It is sup- 
posed the Judges will find some difficulty in removing 
the Prisoners from the Fleet by Habeas Corpus, and 
that a short Bill will be necessary for that purpose. 
The expenses of the Queen's Bench Prison in its present 
profitless employment, is about ^^30,000 per annum to 
the Country." 

This announcement was slightly premature, for the 
Act for its demolition (s ^ ^ Victorian, cap. 22) was not 
passed until May 31, 1842. The Prisoners objected to 



3i8 Prisoners Object to Move. 

the Transfer to the Queen's Bench, preferring their 
comparative liberty as they were, to the more stringent 
rules of the other prison : one clause in the new Act 
being : " And be it enacted. That after the passing of 
this Act, no Prisoner in the Queen's Prison shall be 
allowed to send for, or to have any Beer, Ale, Victuals 
or other Food, or to send for, have or use any Bedding, 
Linen, or other Things, except such as shall be allowed 
to be brought by them respectively under such Rules, 
to be made in the Manner directed by this Act, as may 
be reasonable and expedient to prevent Extravagance 
and Luxury, and for enforcing due Order and Discipline 
within the Prison." 

I have before me the Original Subscription list of a 
scheme of 

" Resistance 
to 
The Abolition of the Fleet Prison. 



April 9th, 1842." 

The author of the Letter of " Fleta to the Lords, 
calling upon them individually to Oppose the Bill for 
transferring the Debtors in the Fleet to the Queen's 
Prison, respectfully calls upon all Parties interested in 
an Opposition to the said Billy to render him such pecu- 
niary assistance in forwarding his Object, as may be con- 
sistent with their Views or Convenience." A list of 
Subscriptions follows, but although 25/- was promised, 



Opposition to Removal. 319 

only 15/- appears to be paid. They held meetings, a 
notice calling one of which is facsimiled ; but it was 




of no avail, and they had to go. One Philip Ball, a 
Chancery Prisoner, composed ' 

"The Last Days of the Fleet ! 

A melancholy Chaunt, 

Written by a Collegian, on the occasion of the ^eens 

Prison Bill receiving the Royal Assent. 



320 



The Last Days of the Fleet." 



Air. ^ The Fine Old English Gentleman.' 



I'll sing to you a bran new song 
Made by my simple pate, 
About the end of the good old 

Fleet, 
Which on us now shuts its gate. 
It has kept confin'd the choicest 

lads 
That e'er together met — 
Of merry, jolly, rattling dogs, 
A regular slap up set. 

Of jovial Fleet prisoners, 

All of the present day. 



This good old pris'n in every 

room 
Contains a merry soul. 
Who for his doings out of doors 
Is now drop't ' in the hole.' 
But surely this is better far 
Than your simple plodding way. 
Get deep in debt, go through the 

Court, 
And whitewash it all away. 

Like a jovial Fleet prisoner, 

All of the present day. 



Such right good hearts are rarely 

found, 
As round me now I see ; 
With such, I'm 'most inclined to 

say. 
Hang liberty for me. 



For T y, S y, V h. 

In spirits who excel ? 

How could we better live than 

here. 
Where friendship weaves her 

spell .'' 

'Mongst jovial Fleet pri- 
soners. 

All of the present day. 

4 
To racquets, skittles, whistling 

shops. 
We must soon say farewell ; 
The Queen's assent to her 

prison bill 
Has rung their funeral knell ; 
And Bennett, Gray, and Andrew 

too 
Must close their welcome doors. 
For sing song and tape spinning 

now. 
This damn'd new Act all floors, 

For the jovial Fleet pri- 
soner, 

All of the present day. 

5 
But to her gracious Majesty 
You'll long be loyal and true. 
Although this latest act of hers 
Must be felt by some of you. 
Speed through the Court, or 

compromise 
Like gallant Captain T h, 



Sale of the Fleet Prison. 321 

Or else you'll soon be sent to grieve 

Your guts out in the Bench. 
All melancholy prisoners^ 
Unlike those of the present day. 

Much, however, as the prisoners might grieve, it was 
of no use kicking against an Act of Parliament, and 
those prisoners who did not take advantage of the In- 
solvent Debtors Act, were transferred to the Queen's 
Prison, which in its turn ceased to be a debtor's prison, 
and was used by Military offenders, until it was sold 
on Oct. 30, 1879, ^'^^ pulled down in that and the 
following year. Now, legally speaking, there is no 
imprisonment for debt, but people are only committed 
for Contempt of Court. 

The Commissioners of Woods and Forests invited 
Tenders for the site and buildings of the late Fleet 
Prison, the estate of which contained above One Acre, 
with a frontage of about 251 feet, towards Farringdon 
Street, and a depth of about 230 feet. The tenders were 
returnable on Oct. 22, 1844, and the Corporation of the 
City of London became the owners of the property at a 
sum variously stated at ^25,000 to _^2 9,000, and the 
sale of its building materials commenced on April 5, 
1845. Its exterior was not particularly attractive. 

And so it passed away, and half the present inhabi- 
tants of London the Great do not even know its site, 
which was not finally cleared until 1846. As a guide 
to those who wish to know its locality I may mention 

' When the prisoners were removed there were two who had 
been incarcerated upwards of thirty years, and were in the Queen's 
prison in 1845. 

22 



322 



Exterior of Fleet Prison. 




a ^^=^>, \ ^ \ \' 



p' '•■ 






/. 



^ 




Plan and Section of Fleet Prison. 323 




GROUND PLAN OF FLEET PRISON. 




SECTION OF THE PRISON. 



324 



Begging Grate. 



that the Congregational Memorial Hall and 
Library, in Farringdon Street, stands on a portion of 
its site. 

Before quitting the subject of the Fleet prison I can- 
not help referring to " the grate." Like Ludgate, it 
had a room open to the street, but famished with a 
strong iron grating, behind which sat a prisoner, who 
called the attention of the passers-by monotonously 
chanting, " Pray Remember the poor Prisoners." A 
box was presented for the reception of contributions, 
but very little money was thus obtained. 




EXTERIOR OF THE GRATE. 



The begging grate was served by poor prisoners who 
had to swear that they were not worth ^5 In the world. 



Richard Oastler. 



;25 



He was then entitled to share the contents of the 
begging box, and also be a partaker of the charities and 
donations to the Prison, which amounted to the magni- 
ficent sum of_^39 19s., besides meat, coals, and bread. 

Prisoners of all sorts and conditions met here, on one 
common basis, one of the last of any mark being Richard 
Oastler, who was the leader of the Ten Hours' Bill 
Movement, and from this prison he issued a series of 
" Fleet Papers " about Free Trade, Factories Acts, and 
the Amalgamation of the Prisons. He died in 1861, 
and a memorial to him was erected at Leeds. 





jTIeet Q^attiages. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



THERE is no doubt that in the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries, the Marriage laws, as 
we now understand them, were somewhat lax, 
and it is possible that it was so long before that time, 
for in Edward VI, 's time an Act was passed (2 and 3 
Ed. VI., c. 21, s. 3) entitled "An Act to take away 
all positive laws made against marriage of priests." 
Section 3 provides that it shall not " give any liberty 
to any person to marry without asking in the church, 
or without any ceremony being appointed by the order 
prescribed and set forth in the book intituled " The 
Book of Common Prayer^ and administration of the 
Sacraments^ &c." Mary, of course, repealed this Act, 
and it was revived and made perpetual by i Jas. i. c. 
25, s. 50. 

It was only after the Council of Trent, that the offices 



328 Illegal Marriages. 

of tlie Church were considered indispensable, for that 
Council decreed that a priest, and two witnesses were 
necessary for the proper celebration of the Nuptial tie. 
Still, the law of England, like the law of Scotland, 
allowed the taking of a woman as wife before witnesses, 
and acknowledging her position, which constituted at 
common law a good and lawful marriage, which could 
not be annulled by the Ecclesiastical Court. That many 
such took place among the Puritans and Sectarians of 
the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth is un- 
doubted, for it needed an Act of Parliament ( 1 2 Chas. 
II. c. 2,3) to render such marriages legal. This enacted 
" That all marriages had, or solemnized, in any of his 
Majesty's dominions since the first day of May, in the 
year of our Lord, one thousand six hundred forty and 
two, before any justice of the Peace, or reputed justice 
of the Peace of England, or Wales, or other his 
Majesty's dominions, . . . shall be, and shall be ad- 
judged, esteemed, and taken to be, and to have been of 
the same, and no other force or effect, as if such mar- 
riages had been had, and solemnized, according to the 
rites and ceremonies established, or used in the Church 
or kingdom of England ; any law, custom, or usage to 
the contrary thereof notwithstanding." 

This short synopsis of the Marriage law in England 
is necessary, in order to understand the subject of 
Fleet Marriages, which, however, were not all dis- 
reputable. The Fleet, as we have seen, had a Chapel 
of its own ; and in old times, a Chaplain — so that 
Marriages might well be celebrated there, in as proper 
and dignified a manner as elsewhere. And, we must 



Marriages. 



3^-9 



I 



bear in mind that early in the seventeenth century, the 
prisoners were of a very different stamp to those of the 
latter half of the eighteenth century, until the demolition 
of the prison. Therefore we see no impropriety in the 
first Marriaore known on record — which is that of Mr. 
Geo. Lester, then a prisoner in the Fleet, to a woman 
of fortune one Mistress Babbington. This is mentioned 
in a letter of September, 1613, from Alderman Lowe 
to Lady Hicks, and may be found in the Lansdowne 
MSS. 93-17. He writes : ^' Now I am to enform you 
that an ancyentt acquayntence of y^ and myne is 
yesterday marryed in the Fleete, one Mr. George 
Lester, and hath maryed M"' Babbington, M' Thomas 
Fanshawe mother in lawe. Itt is sayd she is a woman 
of goode wealthe, so as nowe the man wyll be able to 
lyve and mayntayne hymself in pryson, for hether unto 
he hath byne in poor estate. I praye God he be nott 
encoryged by his marige to do as becher doth, I meane 
to troble his frynds in lawe, but I hope he wyll have 
a better conscyence and more honestye than the other 
men hathe." 

Towards the middle of the seventeenth century 
clandestine, and irregular marriage was prevalent, and 
it is easily accounted for. A public marriage had come 
to be a very expensive affair. There was a festival, 
which lasted several days, during which open house had 
to be kept ; there were the Marriage Se.ttlements, pre- 
sents, pin money, music, and what not — so that the 
binding of their Children in the holy Estate of Matri- 
mony was a serious matter to parents ; who probably 
preferred giving the young couple the money that 



33^ Cost of Marriage. 

otherwise would go in useless waste and profusion. 
So they used to get married quietly : a custom which 
Pepys reprobates in the marriage of the daughter of 
Sir WilHam Penn to Mr. Anthony Lowther. " No 
friends, but two or three relations of his and hers," 
The bride was married in " palterly clothes, and 
nothing new but a bracelet that her servant had given 
her." And he further says, remarking on the meanness 
of the whole affair, " One wonder I observed to day, 
that there was no musique in the morning to call up 
our new married people, which is very mean, methinks." 
Misson, who visited England in the reign of 
William III., speaks of these private marriages. "The 
Ordinary ones, as I said before, are generally incognito. 
The Bridegroom y that is to say, the Husband that is 
to be, and the Bride y who is the Wife that is to be, 
conducted by their Father and Mother, or by those 
that serve them in their room, and accompany'd by 
two Bride men, and two Bride Maids, go early in the 
Morning with a Licence in their Pocket, and call up 
Mr. Curate and his Clerk, tell them their Business ; 
are marry'd with a low Voice, and the Doors shut ; 
tip the Minister a Guinea, and the Clerk a Crown; 
steal softly out, one one way, and t'other another, 
either on Foot or in Coaches; go different Ways to 
some Tavern at a Distance from their own Lodgings, 
or to the House of some trusty Friend, there have 
a good Dinner, and return Home at Night as quietly 
as Lambs. If the Drums and Fiddles have notice of 
it, they will be sure to be with them by Day Break, 
making a horrible Racket, till they have got the Pence ; 



Peculiars. 331 

and, which is worst of all, the whole Murder will come 
out." This senseless custom survives, in a modified 
degree, in our times, when on the marriage of a journey- 
man butcher, his companions treat him to a performance 
of the " Marrow bones and Cleavers," and also in the 
case of marriage of persons in a superior station of life, 
in the playing, on the Organ, of a Wedding March. 

The oldest entry of a Marriage in those Registers 
of the Fleet which have been preserved is a.d. 1674, 
and there is nothing to lead us to imagine that it was 
more irregular than that of Mistress Babbington ; on 
the contrary, it is extremely probable that, previously, 
prisoners were married in their chapel, with the 
orthodox publication of banns, and by their own 
Chaplain. But marriages were performed without 
licence or banns in many churches, which claimed to 
be peculiars^ and exempt from the Visitation of the 
Ordinary : as St. James', Duke's Place, now pulled 
down, denied the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London 
because the Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of 
London, were Lords of the Manor, and Patrons of 
the Church : but the Rector found that the Eccle- 
siastical Law was stronger than he, and that its arm 
was long and powerful, and the Rev. Adam Elliott 
was suspended (Feb. 17, 1686) for three years, ab 
officio et benejicio, for having married, or having suffered 
persons to be married, at the said Church, without 
banns or licence. He did not suffer the full term of 
his punishment, for he managed to get re-instated on 
May 28, 1687. and began his old practices the very 
next day. 



332 Suppression of Irregular Marriages. 

The Chapel of Holy Trinity, Minories, pleaded 
privilege, on the ground that it was a Crown living, 
and as much a peculiar as Westminster Abbey, or the 
Deanery of Windsor ; while the Chapels of the Tower 
and the Savoy sought exemption because they were 
Royal Chapels, and therefore the Bishop had no juris- 
diction over them. Besides these, there were very 
many more chapels scattered over the Metropolis where 
irregular marriages were performed, a list of about 
ninety having been preserved. 

These Marriages so increased that it was found 
necessary to legislate about them, and, in 1689, an Act 
(6 and 7 Will. III. c. 6, s. 24) was passed making 
it compulsory, under a penalty of One Hundred 
pounds, for every parson to keep an accurate register 
of births, Marriages, and deaths. Another Act was 
passed in 1696 (17 and 18 Will. III. c. 35, s. 2-3) 
whereby a penalty of ^100 was imposed on any Clergy- 
man who married, or permitted another to marry, 
couples, otherwise than by banns or licence. This was 
enforced by another Act in 1711 (10 Anne c. 19, s. 
176), which confirmed the penalty, and moreover, this 
section shows that irregular marriages were getting to 
be common in prisons, for it provides that " if any 
gaoler, or keeper of any prison, shall be privy to, or 
knowingly permit any marriage to be solemnized in 
his said prison, before publication of banns, or licence 
obtained, as aforesaid, he shall, for every such offence, 
forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds," &c. 

Of course, this did not stop the practice, although 
it prevented Marriages in the Fleet Chapel. Yet there 



A Fleet Parsons Reflections. 233 

were the Ruies, and real and pretended clergymen for 
many years plied their illicit vocation with impunity. 

But there seems to have been some compunc- 
tions of conscience even among this graceless lot, for 
one of them, Walter Wyatt, has left behind him, in 
a pocket-book dated 1736, the following moral reflec- 
tions. 

" Give to every man his due, and learn y^ way of 
Truth. This advice cannot be taken by those that are 
concerned in y^ Fleet Marriages ; not so much as 
y* Priest can do y* thing y' is just and right there, 
unless he designs to starve. For by lying, bullying, 
and swearing, to extort money from the silly and 
unwary people, you advance your business and gets 
y^ pelf, which always wastes like snow in sun shiney 
day." 

*' The fear of the Lord is the beginnin'^ of wisdom. 
The Marrying in the Fleet is the beginning of eternal 
woe." 

" If a dark or plyer ^ tells a lye, you must vouch 
it to be as true as y^ Gospel ; and if disputed, you 
must affirm with an oath to y^ truth of a downright 
damnable falsehood — Virtus laudatur et alget." 

That this custom of swearing prevailed at Fleet 
Marriages is borne out by contemporary evidence. 
The Grul^ Street Journal July 20, 1732, says: "On 
Saturday last, a Fleet Parson was convicted before Sir 

' These were touts, like those white-aproued gentry who used 
to infest Doctors' Commons, telling people where they could 
procure Marriage licences — only these " plyers " touted for the 
parsons. 



334 Fleet Parsons. 

Ric. Brocas of forty three-oaths (on the information 
of a plyer for weddings there) for which a warrant was 
granted to levy ^4 6s. on the goods of the said parson ; 
but, upon application to his Worship, he was pleased 
to remit is. per oath; upon which the plyer swore 
he would swear no more against any man upon the 
like occasion, finding he got nothing by it." 

And an anonymous Newspaper cutting dated 1734, 
says, '' On Monday last, a tall Clergyman, who plies 
about the Fleet Gate for Weddings, was convicted 
before Sir Richard Brocas of swearing 42 Oaths, and 
ordered to pay £^^ 2s." 

There were regular Chaplains attached to the Fleet 
Prison to serve the Chapel there, and, as we have seen, 
the Warder made every prisoner pay 2d. or 4d. weekly, 
towards his stipend. Latterly the Chaplaincy was 
offered to a Curate of St. Bride's Church — as is now 
done in the case of Bride v/ell. 

A complete list of Chaplains cannot be given, because 
all documents were destroyed when the Fleet was burnt 
by the Lord George Gordon rioters ; but Mr. Burn 
in his '^ History of Fleet Marriages" (a book to which 
I am much indebted, for it has all but exhausted the 
subject) gives the names of some, as Haincks in 1698 ; 
Robert Elborough, 1702; John Taylor, 17 14; Dr. 
Franks, 1728; 1797, Weldon Champneys; 1815, 
John Manley Wood, and John Jones: and in 1834, 
the date of the publication of Mr. Burn's book, the 
Rev. Richard Edwards, was the Chaplain. 

These Clergymen, of course, married couples accord- 
ing to Law, and probably used the Chapel for that 



An Heiress Married. 



335 



purpose. We know that it was so used, for the 
Original Weekly Journal of Sept. 26, 17 19, says : '' One 
Mrs. Anne Leigh, an heiress of ;^20o per annum and 
j^6ooo ready cash, having been decoyed away from her 
friends in Buckinghamshire, and married at the Fleet 
chapel against her consent ; we hear the Lord Chief 
Justice Pratt hath issued out his warrant for apprehend- 
ing the authors of this contrivance, who have used the 
young lady so barbarously, that she now lyes speechless." 




22^ Fleet Paksons. 

But it is not of the Chaplains I would speak, but 
of the irregular Clergy, or Lay men, who performed the 
Marriages, One thing they all agreed in, the wearing 
of the Cassock, Gown, and Bands. They would never 
have been believed in had they not. The accompany- 
ing illustration ^ gives an excellent idea of the Fleet 
Parson, and it is taken from an Engraving entitled 
" The Funeral of Poor Mary Hackabout, attended 
by the Sisterhood of Drury Lane " and it has a footnote 
calling attention to the "wry-necked" parson. " The 
famous Couple Beggar in the Fleets a Wretch, ivho 
there sc7-eens himself from the Justice due to his Villanies, 
and daily repeats them.'' The lady holds a sprig of 
Rosemary in her hand, which in polite society was 
always presented by a servant, when the funeral cortege 
was about to leave the house : — In this case, a dish full 
of sprigs is placed upon the floor, and a child is playing 
with them. The Mourners carried them to the grave, 
and then threw them in, as we now do, flowers and 
wreaths of the same. 

Perhaps one of the earliest notices of these irregular 
Fleet Parsons is in the first year of Queen Anne's reign, 
very soon after she came to the throne, as it appears, in 
the Registry of the Consistory Court, — that on June 4, 
1702, the Bishop of London visited the common prison 
called the Fleet, London, and took Master Jeronimus 
Alley, clerk, to task, requiring him to exhibit to the 
Chancellor of the Diocese, before the 24th June instant, 
his letters of ordination, " and his Lords^ ordered him 
not to marry or perform any divine Office in y" Chapell 
in y^ ffleet, or any place within y^ Dioces untill he has 
^ Sec previous page. 



Fleet Parsons. 3jy 

exhibited y^ same. Mr. Alley soon afterwards fled from 
ye gd Prison, and never exhibited his orders." 

But if Alley fled, there were others left, and the 
practice of marrying without banns, or licence, brought 
forth the act of the loth Anne, before quoted. It was 
probably before this, but certainly during her reign, 
that the following letter was written, which also is in 
the Bishop's Registry. 

" Sir, — I think it my Duty to God and y* Queen to 
acquaint you with y^ illegal practices of y^ Ministers 
and Clark in y* Fleet Chappell for marrying Clandestinely 
as they do som weeks fifty or sixty couple. The 
Ministers that are there are as follows, Mr. Robt. 
Elborough, he is an ancient man and is master of y^ 
Chappie, and marries but very few now without Banns 
or Licence, but under a colour doth allow his Clark to 
do w"^ he pleases, his name is Barth. Basset. There is 
there also one Mr. James Colton a Clergyman, he lives 
in Leather Lane next door to y^ Coach and horses, he 
hath bin there these four years to marry, but no 
Prisoner, he marries in Coffee houses, in his own house, 
and in and about y^ Fleet gate, and all y^ Rules over, 
not excepting any part of City and Suburbs. This 
Clark Basset aforesaid registers wherever Colton marries 
in y* Fleet Register and gives him Certificates. Colton 
had a living in Essex till y^ Bishop of London deprived 
him for this and other ill Practices. There is also one 
Mr. Nehemiah Rogers, he is a prisoner but goes at larg 
to his P. Living in Essex, and all places else, he is a 
very wicked man, as lives for drinking, whoring, and 

23 



32,^ Fleet Parsons. 

swearing, he has struck and boxed y* bridegroom in y' 
Chappie, and damned like any com'on souldier ; he 
marries both within and without y^ Chappie like his 
brother Colton. There was one Mr. Alley ; he was a 
Prisoner, and y* benefit of weddings, but is gone to 
some other preferm^ The abovesaid Basset rents y* 
sellers of y^ Fleet, and pays for y' and two watchmen 
lOO and ^20 p. ann. but he him pays but ^^20 per ann. 
for y^ Clergy pay all y^ rest, and if they do not, they 
are threatened to be confined or outed. This Clark 
hath bin sworn in D""^ Commons not to marry any 
without Banns or Licence, unless it be such poor people 
as are recommended by y^ Justices in case of a big belly, 
but have married since many hundreds, as I and many 
can testifie who are confined Prisoners. The Chief days 
to marry are Sundays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, but 
evry day more or less. The Clark Basset keeps a 
Register book, altho he told y^ Bishop of London he 
had none ; he also antidates as he pleases, as you may 
see when you look over y^ Registers ; he hath another 
at his son's ; he does what he pleases, and maintains a 
great family by these ill practices. £'2.00 p. ann. he 
hath at least. The Ministers and Clark bribe one Mr. 
Shirley, I think him to be Collector for y^ Queen's 
Taxes. I hope. Sir, you will excuse me for concealing 
my name, hoping y* you will inspect into these base 
practices. 

For 

Dr. Newton Chancel?^ 

to My Lord of London 
at D"^^ Commons 

These." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



BUT the Act of 1712 failed to stop these illicit 
marriages, for one John Mottram was tried at 
Guildhall, before Lord Chief Justice Parker, found 
guilty, was suspended from his ministerial functions for 
three years, and was fined ;/!i20o. Of this case there is 
an account in the Weekly Journal, February 13, 17 17. 
'^John Mottram, Clerk, was tryed for solemnizing 
clandestine and unlawful marriages in the Fleet Prison, 
and of keeping fraudulent Registers, whereby it appear'd 
that he had dated several marriages several years before 
he enter'd into orders, and that he kept no less than 
nine several Registers at different houses, which con- 
tained many scandalous frauds. It also appeared, that a 
marriage was antedated because of pregnancy ; and, to 
impose on the ignorant, there was written underneath 
this scrap of barbarous Latin, " Hi non nupti fuerunt, 
sed obtinerunt Testimonium propter timorem parentum," 
meaning that they were not marryed, but obtained this 



340 John Gaynam. 

private Register for fear of their parents. It rather 
appeared from evidence, that these sham marriages were 
solemnized in a room in the Fleet they call the Lord 
Mayor's Chappel, which was furnished with chairs, 
cushions, and proper conveniences, and that a coal 
heaver was generally set to ply at the door to recom- 
mend all couples that had a mind to be marry'd, to the 
Prisoner, who would do it cheaper than any body. It 
further appear'd that one of the Registers only, con- 
tained above 2,200 entrys which had been made within 
the last year." 

Pennant, writing at the end of the last century, gives 
us his personal reminiscences of Fleet Parsons (" Some 
Account of London," jrded., 1793, p. 232), *'In walking 
along the street, in my youth, on the side next to the 
prison, I have often been tempted by the question, Sir^ 
will you be pleased to walk in and be married? Along 
this most lawless space was hung up the frequent sign 
of a male and female hand conjoined, with. Marriages 
■performed within^ written beneath. A dirty fellow in- 
vited you in. The parson was seen walking before his 
shop ; a squalid profligate figure, clad in a tattered plaid 
night gown, with a fiery face, and ready to couple you 
for a dram of gin, or roll of tobacco." 

Burn gives a list of Fleet Parsons, first of whom 
comes John Gaynam, who married from about 1709 to 
1740. He rejoiced in a peculiar soubriquet, as will be 
seen by the following. In the trial of Ruth Woodward 
for bigamy, in 1737, he is alluded to by a witness: — 

"John Hall. I saw her married at the Fleet to 



The Bishop of Hell. 



341 



Robert Holmes ; 'twas at the Hand and Pen, a barber's 

shop. 

" Counsel. And is it not a wedding shop too.^* 

'' Hall. Yes, I don't know the parson's name, but 

'twas a man that once belonged to Creed Church, a 

very, lusty, jolly man. 

" Counsel. Because there's a complaint lodged in a 

proper court, against a Fleet Parson, whom they call 

The Bishop of Hell." 

Some verses, however, absolutely settle the title upon 
Gaynam. 

"THE FLEET PARSON 
A Tale, 

BY ANTI MATRIM. ... OF LONDON. 

Some errant Wags, as stories tell. 

Assert the gloomy prince of Hell 

In th' infernal Region has 

His Officers of all degrees, 

Whose business is to propagate 

On Earth, the interests of his State, 

Ecclesiastics too are thought 

To be subservient to him brought ; 

And, as their zeal his service prize, 

He never fails to make them rise 

As Dignitaries in his Church, 

But often leaves them in the lurch; 

For, if their Fear surmount their Zeal, 

(They) quickly his resentment feel; 

(Are) sure to meet with dire disgrace, 

(And) warmer Zealots fill their place. 

(To) make these Vacancies repleat, 



34^ John Gaynam. 

He borrows P ns from the Fleet, 

Long has old G m with applause 

Obeyed his Master's cursed Laws, 
Readily practis'd every Vice, 
And equall'd e'en the Devil for device. 
His faithful Services such favour gain'd 

That he, first B p was of H — 1 ordain'd. 

Dan. W e (rose) next in Degree, 

And he obtained the Deanery. 

Ned Ash 11 then came into grace, 

And he supplied th' Archdeacon's place, 
But, as the Devil when his ends 
Are served, he leaves his truest friends ; 
So fared it with this wretched three. 
Who lost their Lives and Dignity." 

There is mention of Gaynam in two trials for 
bigamy — first in chronological order coming that of 
Robert Hussey. 

" Dr. Gainham. The 9th of September, i y^^^ ^ 
married a couple at the Rainbow CoiFee House, the 
corner of Fleet Ditch, and entered the marriage in my 
register, as fair a register as any Church in England can 
produce, I showed it last night to the foreman of the 
jury, and my Lord Mayor's Clerk, at the London 
Punch House. 

" Counsel. Are you not ashamed to come and own a 
clandestine marriage in the face of a Court of Justice.'' 

" Dr. Gainham (bowing). Video meliora, deteriora 
sequor. 

" Counsel. You are on your oath, I ask you whether 
you never enter marriages in that book, when there is 
no marriage at all ? 



John Gaynam. 34J 

^^ Dr. Gainhatn. I never did in my life. I page my 
book so, that it cannot be altered." 

The other case is from the trial of Edmund Danger- 
field in 1736. 

" Dr. Gainham. I don't know the prisoner. I did 
marry a man and woman of these names. Here, this is 
a true register: Edwd Dangerfield of St. Mary 
Newington Butts^ Batchelor, to Arabella Fast. When 
I marry at any house, I always set it down, for I carry 
one of the books in my pocket, and when I go home I 
put it in my great book. 

" Court. Do you never make any alteration ? 

*' Gainham. Never, my Lord. These two were 
married at Mrs. Ball's, at the Hand and Pen, by the 
Fleet Prison, and my name is to her book, 

*^ Counsel. 'Tis strange you should not remember 
the prisoner. 

^' Gainham. Can I remember persons ? I have 
married 2000 since that time.'* 

We have heard of Alley, who married from 1681 to 
1707; ofElborrow, 1698 to 1702; and of Mottram, 
who flourished between 1709 and 1725. 

Of Daniel Wigmore, the Dean of the previous poem, 
we know little except that he married between 1723 
and 1754. The Daily Post of May 26, 1738, says of 
him. " Yesterday Daniel Wigmore, one of the parsons 
noted for marrying people within the Rules of the Fleet, 
was convicted before the Right Honourable the Lord 
Mayor, of selling spirituous liquors contrary to law." 



344 Edward Ashwell. 

The third dignitary, Edward Ashwell, the Arch- 
deacon, was notorious, and some of his misdeeds are 
recounted in a letter from Wm. Hodgson, to his 
brother, a Clergyman. (Lansdowne MSS., 841, fol. 

123). 

June 21, 1725. 

"Reverend Sir, — There was lately, at Southam, in 
Warwickshire, one Edward Ashwell, who, in my 
absence, got possession of our School, and preach'd in 
Several Churches in this Neighbourhood. I take the 
Liberty to Inform you. Since I hear he is at Kettering, 
that he is A Most Notorious Rogue and Impostor. I 
have now certificates on my hand, of his having two 
wives alive at this present time, and he was very Near 
Marrying the third, in this Town, but the fear of a 
prosecution upon the Discovery of the flaming and 
Scandalous Immoralities of his life, forc'd him away 
from us. In a short time Afterwards, in a Village not 
far from us, he attempted to Ravish a Woman, but was 
prevented by a Soldier then in the house. I Can assure 
you he is in no Orders, tho' the Audacious Villain 
preaches when he Can get a pulpit. I have a whole 
packet of Letters by Me, all tending to the Same 
Character, which I think Exceeds, for variety of all 
Manner of Inormous practices, what Can be Charg'd 
upon the very Scum of Mankind. The Accounts are 
from persons of integrity and known Reputation. 

" I prevented him preaching one Day at Brawnstin, 
Mr. Somes's parish. It would be A very kind and 
Christian Office to give some information among the 
Clergy, that they may not be Impos'd upon by him. 



Edward Ashwell. 24-S 

particularly to Mr. Heyrick, for 1 Married Mr. Alli- 
cock's sister of Loddington. I know you will pardon 
this trouble if the fellow be amongst you. 

" I am, your affectionate Brother, 

W. Hodgson." 

We hear occasionally of this " professional beauty " 
in the Registers, and give two or three examples : — 

"June 2 1st, 1740, John Jones of Eaton Sutton in 
Bedfordshire, and Mary Steward of the same, came to 
Wood's in Fleet Lane about six o'clock in the morning. 
Mr. Ashwell and self had been down the Market. 
Wood called him, and I went with him there, found the 
said man and woman, offer'd Mr. Ashwell 3 shilling to 
marry him ; he would not, so he swore very much, and 
would have knocked him down, but for me. was not 
married, took this memorandum that they might 
not Pretend afterwards they was married, and not 
Register'd." 

"July 15 (1744). Came a man and wooman to the 
Green Canister, he was an Irishman and Taylor to bee 
married. Gave Mr. Ashwell 2 : 6. but would have 5s., 
went away, and abused Mr. Ashwell very much, told 
him he was a Thief, and I was worse. Took this 
account because should not say they was married, and 
not Registered. N.B. The Fellow said Mr. Warren 
was his relation." 

It was the custom for these Fleet Parsons to carry 
with them pocket books, in which were roughly entered 
the names of the Married Couple, and, occasionally, if 



34^ John Floud. 

they wished their names to be kept secret, and paid, of 
course, a proportionate fee, their full names were not 
transcribed into the larger Register, as the following 
shows : — 

" September y^ nth, 1745. Edwd. and Eliza- 
beth were married, and would not let me know 

their names, y* man said he was a weaver, and liv'd in 
Bandy leg walk in the Borough. Pr. E. Ashwell." 

He was so famous that he was honoured with an 
obituary notice in the press, vide the General Advertiser^ 
Jan. 15, 1746. ^^ On Monday last, died, in the Rules 
of the Fleet, Doctor Ashwell, the most noted operator 
in Marriages since the death of the never-to-be-forgotten 
Dr. Gaynam." 

John Floud, or Flood, did a good business from the 
time of Queen Anne, 1709, to Dec. 31, 1729, when he 
died within the Rules of the Fleet. He was a very 
queer Character, keeping a mistress who played jackal! 
to his lion, and touted for couples to be married. He 
died suddenly whilst celebrating a wedding. Yet even 
he seems to have had some compunction as to his course 
of life, like Walter Wyatt : for, in one of his pocket 
books is the following verse. 

." I have Liv'd so long I am weary Living, 
I wish I was dead, and my sins forgiven : 
Then I am sure to go to heaven, 
Although I liv'd at sixes and sevens." 

John Floud had a peculiarity ; if ever he wanted to 
make memoranda, which were not convenient to intro- 



John Floud. 34-7 

duce into his ordinary Register he partially used the 
Greek character, as being " Caviar to the general," thus : 

"13 Jan. 1728. fiapp: i-hp»;»; fhTWTryt,- & ovi] C"' X'/,'""l/«X«''')- Th;/ 
fiplSrjypoon wag rh/j /3porh»jp of rh?] fiij^opaSXi} Jovarhai' Wi\o ExJ/x*""'/^ 
ar Ty€vp%'." 

Marr. : three shillings and one ditto Certificate. The 
bridegroom was the brother of the memorable Jonathan 
Wild, Executed at Tyburn. 

"8 Mar. 1728. NorhTi'v €vt a 7>ot7] of havS fop rhif fiapp'iayrj whixh 
vi]V7]p wag ^aTo." 

Nothing but a note of hand for this marriage, which 
never was paid. 

"27 August, 1728. nappXayi] Thlprtjr]!' ffhtXATj'yc & oj'jj Sc g'iX'pV^'XI 
XWt/^X'^''''* ''h'/ wojuaj' I'OT )(^apivy to 6// fxapphiS Iv rh?; $X/;j/r I hao 
rh»;ju napph]0 ar ftp (ipov^'vq ar fip YiapplqovQ Iv iptldyijovi] xoi'pr Ir rhj/ 
O\o BaiX/jy ar fovp o-X^oxx ''' Thj? jiopr~ivy" 

Marriage thirteen shillings, and one and sixpence 
Certificate. The woman not caring to be married in 
the Fleet, I had them married at Mr. Brown's, at Mr. 
Harrison's in Pidgeone Court, in the Old Bailey at four 
a'clock in the morning. 

"12 Aug. 1729. (j>o fivi] fhi\\Ti/yc 0>/p ToraX. N.B. Thi] 28tli 0/' 
A^pTX 1736 fipQ (itjKK X"F'i ^^^ Eapi/»/erXy XvrptjartjS fin to Epagij Thij 
fiappXayi] ovr of rh?/ jSoox for rhor hi)p hufgaj'O haS €t]ar avc aivgriS 
hrjp Iv a €ap€apovg fiavvijp. ... 1 fxav?] hj/o €i]\dvt] I Cic go, fop whTxh 
I had ha\f a yvtvija, avS ghij ar rhtf gafii} t'i/xi] cti\ivj]pi)d fit] V(p hijp 
XiP^lfixaTT]. No (p)jpeoi' (ppjjgijVT (Axxop^''7 ro hijp ciig'tpi]). 

Paid five shillings per total. N.B.— The 28th of 
April, 1736, Mrs. Bell came and earnestly intreated me 



348 



Walter Wyatt. 



to erase the Marriage out of the book, for that her 
husband had beat and abused her in a barbarous manner. 
... I made her believe I did so, for which I had half 
a guinea, and she, at the same time, delivered me up her 
certificate. No person present (according to her desire). 

Perhaps, next to Dr. Gaynam, the bishop, no one 
did more business in Fleet Marriages than Walter 
Wyatt. We have already read some of his moral 
apothegms. He made a large income out of his 
Marriages, and, looking at the value of money, which 
was at least three times that of the present time, his 
profession was highly lucrative. Take one Month for 
instance. October, 1748 — 



Oct. y^ I at home 


2 


1 1 


6 


abroad 


nil. 










2 „ 


5 


13 


6 


55 


1 1 


6 








3 


2 


15 


6 


55 


16 











4 .. 




12 


3 


55 


10 











5 » 


I 


5 


6 


55 


nil. 










6 „ 




10 


6 


I 


4 


6 








7 ,, 


I 


8 


6 


55 


nil. 




■ 17 


19 












Total 




3 




From 


8th 


to 15th 


5) 




• 17 


6 


6 






?5 


15th 


„ 2ISt 


55 




10 





6 






„ 


2ISt 


„ 27th 


55 




6 


17 









55 


28th 


„ 31st 


55 




• 5 


9 


6 




£S7__ 


12 


^ 



Or nearly jC'] 00 a year — equal to about ^2,500 of our 
Currency. No wonder then, that when he died, 
March 13, 1750, he left a will behind him, which was 



Walter Wyatt. 



349 



duly proved ; and by It he left his children in ward to 
his brother, and different legacies to his family — to his 
married daughter Mary, he bequeathed five pounds, 
and his estate at Oxford. 

He describes himself, on the cover of one of the 
Registers, as " Mr. Wyatt, Minister of the Fleet, is 
removed from the Two Sawyers, the Corner of Fleet 
Lane (with all the Register Books), to the Hand and 
Pen near Holborn Bridge, where Marriages are solem- 
nized without Imposition." But there seem to have 
been other establishments which traded on Wyatt's 
sign, probably because he was so prosperous. Joshua 
Lilley kept the Hand and Pen near Fleet Bridge. 
Matthias Wilson's house of the same sign stood on the 
bank of the Fleet ditch ; John Burnford had a similar 
name for his house at the foot of Ludgate Hill, and 
Mrs. Balls also had an establishment with the same 
title. 

He seems to have attempted to invade Parson Keith's 
peculiar in May Fair, or it may only be an Advertising 
ruse on the part of that exceedingly keen practitioner, 
in order to bring his name prominently before the 
public. At all events there is an Advertisement dated 
August 27, 1748. '^ The Fleet Parson (who very 
modestly calls himself Reverend), married at the Fleet, 

in Mr. L yl's house, Mrs. C k's, at the Naked 

Boy, and for Mr. W yt, the Fleet Parson. And to 

shew that he is now only for Mr. W yt, the Fleet 

Parson's deputy, the said W yt told one in May 

Fair, that he intended to set up in opposition to Mr. 
Keith, and send goods to furnish the house, and main- 



35^ 



Walter Wyatt. 



tains him and the men who ply some days at the Fleet, 
and at other times at May Fair. But not to speak of 
the men, if he himself was not a Fleet Parson, he could 
never stand in Piccadilly, and run after Coaches and 
foot people in so shameful a manner, and tell them Mr. 
Keith's house is shut up, and there is no Chapel but 
theirs ; and to other people he says, their Fleet Chapel 
is Mr. Keith's Chapel, and this he hath said in the 
hearing of Mr. Keith's clerk, and it is known to most 
of the people about May Fair, and likewise Mr. Keith 
appeals to the generality of people about the Fleet and 
May Fair, for proof of Mr. Reverend's being only 
W yts, the Fleet parson's deputy." 





CHAPTER XXVIII. 



OF JAMES STARKEY, who married from 1718 
to 1730, very little is known, except that he had 
run away to Scotland, and could not be produced 
when wanted at a trial in the Old Bailey. And also of 
Robert Cuthbert, 1723-30 — very little is known 
except through the medium of his pocket books, and 
they recount his love of horse flesh, and the prices he 
paid for his mounts. 

Of Thomas Crawford, 17 23- 1748, we hear some- 
thing from a letter in that curious mdlange of News, 
the Gruh Street Journal^ June 10, 1736 : — 

'* Gentlemen, Having frequently heard of the many 
abominable practises of the Fleet, I had the Curiosity, 
May 23, to take a view of the place, as I accidently 
was walking by. 

*' The first thing observable was one J L ,^ 

^ Joshua Lilly, who kept one of the Hand and Pen houses, and 
said that he had been appointed Registrar of Marriages, by the 



2S1 The Lilleys. 

by trade a Carpenter (whose brother, it is said, keeps 
the sign of the B and G r),i cursing, swearing. 

Lord Chancellor, and had paid ;^i,ooo for the post. He did not 
marry people, but kept presumable Clergymen to do so. He is 
mentioned several times in the Registers and Pocket-books. Once, 
at all events, he was in danger of the judgment seat, as Ashwell 
writes in one of his pocket-books : "N.B. On Sunday, November 
y® 6, 1740, at y*" hour of 9, in my house declared that, if he had 
not come home out of y° country, being fled for punishment, 
having Cut of his hair (to prevent being known), y' y° indictment 
for marrying James Hussey to Miss Henrietta Arnold, he had 
(been) ruin'd but y' he swore it ofF and y^ attorney promis'd to 
defend him, and it cost him only a treat of 10/ ; had I staid, says 

the s^ Joshua Lilley, where I was, viz, , the indictment would 

have stood good against me, but my taking y® side of the prosecutor, 
y° young ladies, I have got safe off." In a Register is a notice re- 
lating to him. "June y" 13th, 1744. Whereas one Joshua Lilley, 
being a noted man for having more marriages at his house than 
the generality of y^ people could have, he the said Joshua Lilley 
keeping several plyars, as they are call'd, to gett these weddings, 
I have put his marriages down in a separate book, but findend ill- 
convenience arise thereby, fro' this 13th instant, do insert it w"* y^ 
rest." And one of his handbills describes him as 'L Lilley, at y'^ 
Hand and Pen, next door to the china shop, Fleet Bridge, London, 
will be perform'd the solemnization of marriages by a gentleman 
regularly bred att one of our Universities, and lawfully ordain'd 
according to the institutions of the Church of England, and is 
ready to wait on any person in town or countrey." 



^ This was John Lilley, who kept a public-house, called the 
Bull and Garter. In 1717 he was found guilty, and fined five 
pounds, for acting as Clerk at a Fleet Marriage. He was a turnkey 
at the Fleet Prison, and in his house he had a room for solemniz- 
ing marriages — which he called a Chapel — issuing certificates 
bearing the City Arms, and purporting to be the Lord Mayor's 
Certificates. 



Fleet Parsons. jrj 

and raving in the street in the time of divine service, 
with a mob of people about him, calling one of his 
fraternity (J. E.),^ a Plyer for Weddings, an informing 
rogue, for informing against one of their Ministers for 
profane cursing and swearing, for which offence he paid 
three pounds odd money : the hearing of which pleased 
me very well, since I could find one in that notorious 
place which had some spark of grace left ; as was 
manifested by the dislike he shewed to the person that 
was guilty of the profanation of God's sacred name, 

" When the mob was dispersed, I walked about some 
small time, and saw a person, exceeding well-dress'd in 
flower'd morning gown, a band, hat and wig, who 
appeared so clean that I took him for some worthy 
divine, who might have, accidentally, be making the 
same remarks as myself; but upon inquiry was sur- 

pris'd at being assured he was one T C 2 ^ 

watchmaker, who goes in a Minister's dress, personating 
a Clergyman, and taking upon him the name of Doctor, 
to the scandal of the Sacred function. He may be 
seen any time at the Bull and Garter, or the Great Hand, 
and Pen and Star, with these words under written. 
* The old and true Register ' near the Rainbow Coffee 
House. — T. S." 

Peter Symson, who married 1 731-1754, describes 
himself in his handbill, as " educated at the University 
of Cambridge, and late Chaplain to the Earl of Rothes." 

^ Probably John Evans, who married from 1689 to 1729, both, 
at the King's Bench and Fleet. 

^ I am unable to identify these initials. 

24 



354 Fleet Parsons. 

His " Chapel " was at the Old Red Hand and Mitre, 
three doors from Fleet Lane, and next door to the 
White Swan. As were most of his fellows, he was 
witness in a bigamy trial in 1751. He was asked, 

" Why did you marry them without license ? 

" Symson. Because somebody would have done it, if I 
had not. I was ordained in Grosvenor Square Chapel 
by the Bishop of Winchester — the Bishop of Lincoln. 
Can't say I am a prisoner in the Fleet. Am 43 years 
old. Never had a benefice in my life. I have had 
little petty Curacies about ^20 or ^30 per year. I 
don't do it for lucre or gain. 

" Court. You might have exposed your person had 
you gone on the highway, but you'd do less prejudice 
to your country a great deal. You are a nuisance to 
the public ; and the gentlemen of the jury, it is to be 
hoped, will give but little credit to you." 

When Keith of Mayfair was committed to the Fleet, 
Symson married for him from 1750 to 1754. 

There' was another Fleet Parson named William 
Dare, 1732- 1746, who had such a large connection 
that he employed a Curate to help him ; but then, his 
marriages were 150 to 200 a month. 

James Lando is somewhat shrouded in mystery, for it 
is possible that he was identical with the gentleman who 
is described at the end of one of the Fleet Registers as 
*' John Lando, a French Minister, in Church Street, Soho, 
opposite att a French pastry or nasty Cook's. His Land- 
lord's name is Jinkstone, a dirty chandler's shop : he is 
to be heard of in the first flower next the skye." 



Fleet Parsons, ^SS 

He really was a " Chaplain of the Fleet," for he was 
Chaplain on board H.B.M.S. Falkland from May 29, 
1744, to Jan. 17, 1746. He had a house in Half 
Moon Court, the first house joining to Ludgate, which 
was at the Corner of the Old Bailey. This he called 
St. John's Chapel, and here he not only solemnized 
marriages, but taught Latin and French three times a 
week. 

An advertisement of his states that " Marriages with 
a Licence, Certificate, and a Crown Stamp, at a Guinea, 
at the New Chapel, next door to the China Shop, near 
Fleet Bridge, London, by a regular bred Clergyman, 
and not by a Fleet Parson, as is insinuated in the public 
papers ; and that the town may be freed (from) mis- 
takes, no Clergyman being a prisoner in the Rules of 
the Fleet dare marry ; and to obviate all doubts, this 
Chapel is not in the verge of the Fleet, but kept by a 
Gentleman who was lately on board one of his Majesty's 
men of war, and likewise has gloriously distinguished 
himself in defence of his King and Country, and is 
above committing those little mean actions that some 
men impose on people, being determined to have every- 
thing conducted with the utmost decency and regu- 
larity, such as shall be always supported in law and 
equity." 

Burn gives a list of others who married in the Fleet, 
but does not pretend it to be exhaustive. Still, the list 
is a long one. 

Bates ... ... Bray field, Sam. ... 1754 

Becket, John ... 1748 Bynes, Bcnj. ... 1698101711 

Buckler, Sam. ... 1732101751 Barrett, Mich. ... 1717 „ 1738 



S6 



Fleet Parsons. 



Colton, James ... 


1 68 1 to 


I72I 


Roberts, Edward 


1698 




Callow, Jos. 


1752 




Reynolds, E. 


1749 




Clayton ... 


1720 




Rogers, Nehemiah 


1700 to 


1703 


Colteman 


1688 




Shadwell, Ralph 


1733 ,, 


1734 


Draper ... 


1689 to 


I7I6 


Shaw, James 


1723 




Denevan, Francis 


1747 » 


1754 


Sindrcy, Richard 


1722 to 


1740 


Davis, Wm. 


1718 




Stacy, Edmund... 


I7I9 




Evans, John 


1689 to 


1729 


Shelburn, Anthony 


1722 to 


1737 


Evans, Ed. 


1727 




Stainton, John ... 


1730 




Farren, John 


1688 




Simpson, Anthony 


1726 to 


1754 


Gower, Henry ... 


1689 to 


I7I8 


Stanhope, Walter 


I7II 




Hodgkins, Thos. 


1674,, 


1728 


Standly ... 


1747 to 


1750 


Hanson, Anthony 


I73I „ 


1732 


Skinner,Nathaniel 


I7I6 




Jones, John 


I7I8 „ 


1725 


Town, I. 


1754 




Loveday, Wm. ... 


1750 




Tomkings 


1740 




Morton ... 


1720 




Tarrant, John ... 


1688 




Marston, Edward 


1713 to 


I7I4 


,, fi • • • 


1742 to 


1750 


Marshall, John ... 


1750 




Townsend, Jacob 


1754 




Murry, D. 


I7I9 




Vice, Jo. 


1689 to 


I7I3 


Nodes ... 


1753 




Wagstaffe, James 


1689,, 


1729 


Oswald ... 


1712 




Wise, J 


1709 




Oglesby... 


1728 to 


1740 


Wilkinson 


1740 




Privavaul 






Williams, Wm. ... 






Patterson 


1732 




Walker, Clem. ... 


1732 to 1735 


Ryder, Thos. ... 


1722 to 


1743 


Wodmore, Isaac 


1752 





Which of these is the one referred to in the Gentle- 
man s Magazine for April 1809.^ "I should be much 
obliged to you also, Mr. Urban, if you, or any of your 
numerous and intelligent correspondents, could acquaint 
me with the name of a tall black clergyman, who used 
to solicit the commands of the votaries of Hymen at 
the door of a public-house known by the sign of the 
Cock in Fleet Market, previously to the Marriage Act." 

Before dismissing the subject of Fleet parsons, refe- 
rence must be made to the Rev. Alexander Keith of 



Parson Keith. 35-7 

Mayfair Chapel, who has a claim to be noticed here, as 
he was an inhabitant of the Fleet. The Chapel in 
Mayfair was built somewhere about 1736, to meet the 
wants of the increasing neighbourhood, which was then 
becoming fashionable, after the abolition of the fair in 
Brook-field, and the first incumbent was the Rev. 
Alexander Keith, who claimed to have been ordained 
priest by the Bishop of Norwich, acting on Letters 
Dimissory from the Bishop of London, in June, 1731. 
He also stated that at the time of his appointment as 
preacher in the Chapel, he was Reader at the Roll's 
Chapel. He did a roaring trade in irregular marriages, 
and it was at Mayfair Chapel that the Duke of Hamil- 
ton espoused the youngest of the beautiful Miss 
Gunnings, " with a ring of the bed curtain, at half an 
hour past twelve at night." 

He had also a private chapel of his own, as we read 
in an advertisement of his, April, 1750. "Several 
persons belonging to Churches and Chapels, together 
with many others, supposing the Marriages at May Fair 
New Chapel to be detrimental to their interest, have 
made it their Business to rave and clamour, but in such 
a Manner, as not to deserve to Answer, because every 
Thing they have said tends to expose their own Igno- 
rance and Malice, in the Opinion of People of good 
Sense and Understanding. We are informed, that Mrs. 
Keith's Corpse was removed from her Husband's House 
in May Fair, the Middle of October last, to an Apothe- 
cary's in South Audley Street, where she lies in a Room 
hung with Mourning, and is to continue there till Mr. 
Keith can attend her Funeral ! The way to Mr. 



358 Parson Keith. 

Keith's Chapel is thro' Piccadilly, by the End of St. 
James's Street and down Clarges Street, and turn on the 
Left Hand. The Marriages (together with a Licence 
on a Five Shilling Stamp, and Certificate) are carried on 
as usual, any time till Four in the Afternoon, by another 
regular Clergyman, at Mr. Keith's little Chapel in May 
Fair, near Hyde Park Corner, opposite the great Chapel, 
and within ten Yards of it. There is a Porch at the 
Door like a Country Church Porch." 

His wife died in 1 749 whilst he was in the Fleet 
prison, which accounts for his inability to attend her 
funeral. Why he was imprisoned is as follows. By 
advertising, and other means, his Marriages at Mayfair 
were very popular, and interfered greatly with the 
Vested Interests of the neighbouring clergy, one of 
whom, Dr. Trebeck, rector of St. George's, Hanover 
Square, brought a lawsuit against him, in the Ecclesias- 
tical Court. He defended himself, but unsuccessfully, 
for a sentence of excommunication was promulgated 
against him on Oct. 27, 1742. 

Two could play at that game, so Keith excommuni- 
cated, at his Chapel in Mayfair, his bishop, the judge 
who condemned him, and the prosecutor, Dr. Trebeck, 
but none of them seem to have been any the worse for 
the operation. Such, however, was not the case with 
Keith, for, on Jan. 24, 1743, a decree was issued for his 
apprehension. This did not take effect till April, 1743, 
when he was committed to the Fleet ; the marriages at 
Mayfair being continued, as we have seen, by Symson 
and Denevan. 

He lay in the Fleet about fifteen years, and in 1753, 



Parson Keith. 2S9 

when Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act was being dis- 
cussed, he thence issued a pamphlet of thirty-two pages, 
with his portrait attached, entitled, " Observations on 
the Act for preventing Clandestine Marriages." In it 
he gives what seems to be *' a plain, unvarnished tale " 
of Fleet Marriages. "As I have married many thou- 
sands, and, consequently, have on those occasions seen 
the humour of the lower class of people, I have often 
asked the married pair how long they had been 
acquainted ; they would reply, some more, some less, 
but the generality did not exceed the acquaintance of a 
week, some only of a day, half-a-day, &c. . . . Another 
inconveniency which will arise from this Act will be, 
that the expence of being married will be so great, that 
few of the lower class of people can afford ; for I have 
often heard a Flete parson say, that many have come to 
be married when they have but half-a-crown in their 
pockets, and sixpence to buy a pot of beer, and for 
which they have pawned some of their cloaths. ... I 
remember once on a time, I was at a public-house at 
Radcliffe, which was then full of Sailors and their girls, 
there was fiddling, piping, jigging, and eating ; at length 
one of the tars starts up, and says, * D — m ye, Jack, I'll 
be married just now ; I will have my partner, and ' . . . 
The joke took, and in less than two hours ten couple 
set out for the Flete. I staid their return. They 
returned in coaches ; five women in each coach ; the tars, 
some running before, others riding on the coach box, 
and others behind. The Cavalcade being over, the 
couples went up into an upper room, where they con- 
cluded the evening with great jollity. The next time I 



360 Parson Keith. 

went that way, I called on my landlord and asked him 
concerning this marriage adventure ; he first stared at 
me, but, recollecting, he said those things were so fre- 
quent, that he hardly took any notice of them ; for, 
added he, it is a common thing, when a fleet comes in, 
to have two or three hundred marriages in a week's 
time, among the sailors." 

The Marriage Act was passed, and came into force 
on March 26, 1754. On the 25th Sixty-one Couples 
were married at Mayfair Chapel. 

It was a death blow to the Reverend Alexander, 
although he tried to laugh it off, if Horace Walpole 
may be believed. In a letter to George Montagu, 
Esqr. (June 1 1, 1753), he says : " I shall only tell you 
a bon mot of Keith's, the marriage broker, and conclude. 
' G — d d — n the Bishops,' said he (I beg Miss Mon- 
tagu's pardon), * so they will hinder my marrying. 
Well, let 'em, but I'll be revenged : I'll buy two or 
three acres of ground, and by G — d, I'll under bury 
them all.'" 

This may have been true, but it was mere bravado, 
for he appealed from his prison to the benevolent, as we 
see by the following advertisement. " To the Corn-pas- 
sionate, By the late Marriage Act, the Rev. Mr. 
Keith, from a great Degree of Aflluence, is reduc'd to 
such a deplorable State of Misery in the Fleet Prison, 
as is much better to be conceiv'd than related, having 
scarce any other thing than Bread and Water to subsist 
on. It is to be hoped he will be deemed truly unde- 
serving such a Fate, when the Publick are assured, that 
not foreseeing such an unhappy Stroke of Fortune, as 



Parson Keith. j6i 

the late Act, he yearly expended almost his whole 
Income (which amounted to several Hundred Pounds 
per Annum) in relieving not only single distress'd Per- 
sons, but even whole Families of wretched Objects of 
Compassion. This can be attested by several Persons 
of the strictest Character and Reputation, as well as by 
Numbers who experienced his Bounty. Mr. Keith's 
present calamitous Situation renders him perhaps as 
great an Object of Charity himself, as all Circumstances 
consider'd, as ever in his better Days partook of his 
own Assistance, or that of others equally compassionate; 
and is indeed sufficient to awaken Humanity in the 
most uncharitable. Any Gentleman or Lady may be 
satisfied of the above by applying to Mr. Brooke, En- 
graver, facing Water Lane, Fleet Street, by whom 
Donations from the Publick will be received for the Use 
of Mr. Keith." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

KEITH'S written description of a Fleet Marriage is 
graphic, but a contemporary engraving brings it 
even more vividly before us. This was pub- 
lished Oct. 20, 1747, and gives an excellent view of the 
Fleet Market as it then was. It is called " A Fleet 
Wedding, Between a brisk young Sailor, and his 
Landlady's Daughter at Rederiff." 

" Scarce had the Coach discharg'd it's trusty Fare, 
But gaping Crouds surround th' amorous Pair ; 
The busy Flyers make a mighty Stir ! 
And whisp'ring cry, d'ye want the Parson, Sir ? 
Pray step this way — just to the Pen in" Hand 
The Doctor's ready there at your Command : 
This way (another cries) Sir, I declare 
The true and ancient Register is Here. 
Th' alarmed Parsons quickly hear the Din ! 
And haste with soothing words t'invite them in : 
In this Confusion jostled to and fro, 
Th' inamour'd Couple knows not where to go : 
Till slow advancing from the Coache's Side 
Th' experienc'd Matron came (an artful Guide) 
She led the way without regarding either. 
And the first parson spliced 'em both together." 



The Bunter's Wedding. 2^S 

The Context to this is a companion Engraving of 
*' The Sailor's Fleet Wedding Entertainment," 
which most aptly illustrates Keith's description, but the 
poetry attached to it will scarcely bear modern repro- 
duction. 

But, if a poetical account of a Fleet Wedding is 
needed, it may be found in " The Bunter's Wedding." 

" Good people attend, I'll discover, 
A Wedding that happen'd of late, 
I cannot tell why we should smother. 
The weddings of poor more than great ; 
'Twixt Ben of the Borough so pretty. 
Who carries a basket, 'tis said, 
And dainty plump Kent street fair Kitty, 
A Coney Wool Cutter by trade. 

The guests were all quickly invited, 
Ben order'd the dinner by noon. 
And Kitty was highly delighted, 
They obey'd the glad summons so soon : 
An ox cheek was order'd for dinner, 
With plenty of porter and gin, 
Ben swore on the oath of a sinner. 
Nothing should be wanting in him. 

Joe the sandman, and Bessy the buntcr. 
We hear from St. Giles's did prance, 
Dick the fiddler, and Sally the Mumper, 
Brought Levi the Jew for to dance. 
Tom the Chanter he quickly was present. 
And squinting black Molly likewise. 
With Billy the Dustman quite pleasant. 
And Nell with no nose and sore eyes. 

Ned the drover was also invited, 
Unto this gay wedding to come, 



366 The Bunter's Wedding. 

From Smithfield he came quite delighted, 
Before that the market was done. 
And Fanny the pretty match maker, 
A sister to young bunting Bess, 
She wished the devil might take her 
If she was not one of the guests. 

Dolly the rag woman's daughter. 
From Tyburn road she did stride, 
And Jenny the quilter came after 
Whose nose it stood all of one side ; 
There was Roger the chimney sweeper, 
No soot he would gather that day. 
But, because he would look the compleater. 
His soot bag and brush threw away. 

There was bandy leg'd sheep's head Susan 

We hear from Field Lane she did hie. 

And draggle tail'd Pat with no shoes on. 

Who pins and laces doth cry ; 

Ralph the grinder he set by his barrow, 

As soon as he heard of the news. 

And swore he would be there to-morrow, 

Atho' he'd no heels to his shoes. 

Sam the grubber, he having had warning, 
His wallet and broom down did lay. 
And early attended next morning, 
The bride for to give away ; 
And Peggy the mop yarn spinner. 
Her Cards and her wheel set aside. 
And swore as she was a sinner, 
She'd go and attire the bride. 

Nan the tub woman out of Whitechapel, 

Was also invited to go. 

And, as she was 'kin to the couple, 

She swore she the stocking would throw ; 



The Bunter's Wedding. 367 

So having all gather'd together, 
As they appointed to meet. 
And being all birds of a feather. 
They presently flocked to the Fleet. 

But when at Fleet Bridge they arrived, 
The bridegroom was handing his bride. 
The sailors \_P p/yers'\ they all to them drived, 
Do you want a Parson ? they cry'd ; 
But as they down Fleet Ditch did prance. 
What house shall we go to ? says Ben, 
Then Kitty, in raptures, made answer 
Let's go to the Hand and the Pen. 

Then into the house they did bundle. 
The landlady shew'd them a room. 
The landlord he roar'd out like thunder. 
The parson shall wait on you soon : 
Then so eager he came for to fasten, 
He staid not to fasten his hose, 
A fat bellied ruddy fac'd parson. 
That brandy had painted his nose. 

But before (he) the couple did fasten 

He look'd all around on the men. 

My fee's half a crown, says the parson, — 

I freely will give it, says Ben : 

Then Hymen he presently follow'd 

And the happy knot being ty'd 

The guests they whooped and hollow'd. 

All joys to the bridegroom and bride. 

Like Malt horses home they all pranced. 
The bride she look'd not like the same. 
And thus thro' the City they danced ; 
But, when to the Borough they came. 
The bride to look buxom endeavour'd. 
The bridegroom as brisk as an eel ; 
With the marrow bones and cleavers, 
The butchers they rang them a peal. 



368 The Bunter's Wedding. 

And, as they were homewards advancing, 
A-dancing, and singing of songs, 
The rough music met them all prancing, 
With frying pans, shovels, and tongs : 
Tin Canisters, salt boxes plenty. 
With trotter bones beat by the boys. 
And they being hollow and empty, 
They made a most racketting noise. 

Bowls, gridirons, platters, and ladles, 
And pokers, tin kettles did bruise. 
The noise, none to bear it was able. 
The warming pans beat with old shoes : 
Such a rattling racketting uproar, 
Had you but have heard it, no doubt. 
All hell was broke loose you'd have swore, 
Arwi the devils were running about. 

The Mob they all hollow'd and shouted. 
In the streets as they passed along. 
The people to see how they scouted. 
Together in clusters did throng; 
They made all the noise they was able, 
And thus they were ushered in, 
But e'er they all sat down to table. 
They each had a glass of old gin. 

Dinner being decently ended. 
The table was cleared with speed. 
And they to be merry intended. 
So strait did to dancing proceed ; 
But Harry the night man so jolly. 
With madness he almost cry'd. 
And all the night sat melancholy. 
For he had a mind for the bride." 

There are four more verses, but they are not worth 
transcribing — besides, there is a very good prose account 



Fleet Parsons. 369 

of the doings at the Fleet, which, certainly, bears the 
impress of truth. It is in No. 270 of the Grub Street 
Journal^ Feb. 27, 1735 : — 

'* Sir, There is a very great evil In this town, and of 
dangerous consequence to our sex, that has never been 
suppressed, to the great prejudice, and ruin, of many 
hundreds of young people, every year ; which I beg 
some of your learned heads to consider of, and consult 
of proper ways and means to prevent for the future : I 
mean the ruinous marriages that are practised in the 
liberty of the Fleets and thereabouts, by a sett of drunken, 
swearing parsons, with their Myrmidons that wear black 
coats, and pretend to be clerks, and registers to the Fleet. 
These ministers of wickedness ply about Ludgate Hill, 
pulling and forcing people to some pedling alehouse, or 
brandy shop, to be married, even on a Sunday, stopping 
them as they go to church, and almost tearing their 
cloaths off their backs. To confirm the truth of these 
facts, I will give you a case or two, which lately hap- 
pened : — 

'* Since midsummer last, a young lady of birth and 
fortune, was deluded and forced from her friends, by the 
assistance of a very wicked, swearing parson, married to 
an atheistical wretch, whose life is a continual practice 
of all manner of vice and debauchery. And, since the ruin 
of my relation, another lady of my acquaintance had like 
to have been trapanned in the following manner : — 

" This lady had appointed to meet a gentlewoman at 
the Old Play-house in Drury Lane ; but extraordinary 
business prevented her coming. Being alone, when 

25 



370 Fleet Parsons. 

the play was done, she bade a boy call a coach for the 
City. One drest like a gentleman helps her into it, and 
jumps in after her. ^ Madam,' says he, ' this coach was 
called for me : and since the weather is so bad, and there 
is no other, I beg leave to bear you company ; I am 
going into the City, and will set you down wherever 
you please.' The lady begged to be excused ; but he 
bade the coachman drive on. Being come to Ludgate 
hill, he told her his sister, who waited his coming, but 
five doors up the Court, would go with her in two 
minutes. He went, and returned with his pretended 
sister, who asked her to step in one minute, and she 
would wait upon her in the coach. 

" Deluded with the assurance of having his sister's 
company, the poor lady foolishly followed her into the 
house, when, instantly, the sister vanish'd ; and a 
tawny fellow in a black coat and black wig appeared. 
' Madam, you are come in good time, the doctor was just 
a going.' 'The doctor,' says she, horribly frighted, 
fearing it was a madhouse ; * What has the doctor to do 
with me ? ' ' To marry you to that gentleman : the doctor 
has waited for you these three hours, and will be payed 
by you or the gentleman before you go.' ' That gentle- 
man,' says she, recovering herself, ' is worthy a better 
fortune than mine.' And begged hard to be gone. But 
doctor Wryneck swore she shou'd be married; or, if 
she wou'd not, he would still have his fee, and register 
the marriage from that night. The lady, finding she 
could not escape without money or a pledge, told them 
she liked the gentleman so well, she would certainly meet 
him to-morrow night, and gave them a ring as a pledge : 



Exchange of Wives. 371 

which, says she, * was my mother's gift on her death- 
bed, injoining that if ever I married, it should be my 
wedding ring.' By which cunning contrivance, she was 
delivered from the black, doctor, and his tawny crew. 

" Some time after this, I went with this lady, and her 
brother, in a coach to Ludgate Hill, in the day time, to 
see the manner of their picking up people to be married. 
As soon as our coach stopt near Fleet Bridge, up 
comes on of the Myrmidons. ' Madam,' says he, * you 
want a parson.' * Who are you?* says I. ^ I am the 
clerk and register of the Fleet.' ' Show me the Chapel.' 
At which comes a second, desiring me to go along with 
him. Says he, * That fellow will carry you to a pedling 
alehouse. Says a third, ' Go with me, he will carry you 
to a brandy shop.' In the interim, comes the doctor. 
' Madam,' says he, * I'll do your jobb for you presently.' 
* Well, gentlemen,' says I, ' since you can't agree, and I 
can't be married quietly, I'll put it off 'till another time,' 
so drove away." 

Some of the stories of Fleet Marriages read like 
romances, yet they are all taken from contemporary 
accounts. Here, for instance, is a fact, scarcely to be 
believed nowadays : — "Jan. 5, 1742. On Tuesday last 
two Persons, one of Skinner Street, and the other of 
Webb's Square, Spittle Fields, exchang'd Wives, to whom 
they had been married upwards of twelve Years ; and 
the same Day, to the Content of all Parties, the 
Marriages were consummated at the Fleet. Each 
Husband gave his Wife away to the other, and in the 
Evening had an Entertainment together." 



372 Singular Marriage, 

Or this from the Whitehall Evening Post, July 24, 
1739 • — " ^^ Tuesday last a Woman indifferently well 
dress'd came to the sign of the Bull and Garter, next 
Door to the Fleet Prison, and was there married to a 
Soldier ; in the afternoon she came again, and would 
have been married to a Butcher, but that Parson who 
had married her in the Morning refused to marry her 
again, which put her to the Trouble of going a few 
Doors further, to another Parson, who had no Scruple." 

Here is another story indicative of the Manners and 
Morals of those days : — Oct. 1739. '^ Last Week, a 
merry Widow, near Bethnal Green, having a pretty many 
Admirers, not to be over Cruel, she equally dispensed 
her Favours between two, who were the highest in her 
Esteem. The one, a Butcher, meeting the good Woman, 
took the Advantage of the others Absence, and pleaded 
his Cause so successfully, that they tuck'd up their Tails, 
trudg'd to the Fleet, and were tack'd together. Home 
they both jogg'd to their several habitations, the Bride- 
groom to his, and the Bride to her's. Soon after came 
another of her Admirers, an honest Weaver, who, upon 
hearing of the Melancholy News, had no more Life in 
him for some time than one of the Beams of his Loom ; 
but, recovering himself a little from the Surprize he was 
seized with a sudden Delirium, swore his Loom should 
be his Gibbet, and he'd hang himself pendant at the End 
of his Garter, if he also was not tack'd to his comfort- 
able Rib : The good Widow, considering that the 
Butcher had not bedded with her, and desirous of pre- 
venting Murder, consented, and away she jogg'd to be 
coupled to the Weaver. On their return home, to Bed 



Singular Marriage. 



373 



they went, and the Butcher coming to see his dear 
Spouse, found her in Bed with the Weaver ; upon which 
a Quarrel ensued, and the Butcher being the best Man, 
she left the Weaver and went to the Butcher, being 
willing to please them both, as well as she could." 




CHAPTER XXX. 

THERE are several instances of Committal to the 
Fleet for meddling with Marriages. One or two 
will suffice : — 1731. "Thursday, the Master of 
the Rolls committed a Clergyman to the Fleet for 
marrying a young Gentleman about 17 years of Age at 
Eaton School, and intitled to an Estate of ^1500 per 
Annum, to a Servant Maid : and at the same time 
committed the person who gave her in Marriage. His 
Honour had some days since sent as Prisoner to the 
Fleet, the Person who pretended to be the Youth's 
Guardian, and who had given a Bond to indemnify the 
Parson." 

1735. "Two Sisters were committed to the Fleet 
prison, by an order of the high Court of Chancery, for 
drawing a young fellow into marriage, he being a ward 
of the said Court." 

Dec. 28, 1734. " Last Saturday Night Mr. D 

late Valet de Chambre to a certain Noble Lord near 



376 A RuNNAWAY Marriage. 

Soho Square, went away, as was suspected, with his 
Lordship s Niece, a young Lady not yet of Age, and a 
Coheiress to a very large Estate. It seems they took a 
Hackney Coach soon after they got out of Doors, and 
upon strict Enquiry, the Coachman was found out, who 
declared that he took a Gentleman and a Lady up 
at such a Place, and set them down at the Fleet and 
by the Description he gave it appeared to be the two 
Lovers who may therefore be supposed to have been 
married and bedded that Night. A Warrant was im- 
mediately obtained for apprehending the Supposed 
Bridegroom, and he was accordingly taken in Bed with 
his Lady at a house in Queen Street near Guildhall, on 
Wednesday Morning last, and immediately carried to 
Poultry Compter, and the Lady was carried off by her 
Friends. In the Afternoon he was examined, and after- 
wards re-committed to the same Prison. So that it 

'^T^V' Vf"' ^'' endeavouring to get himself a 
R^cbmfe, which IS a Practice followed by all the youn^ 
Gentlemen of Quality in England ; but the Difference is 
That this young fellow has married, or endeavoured to 
marry an Heiress without the Consent of her Friends 
whereas the other generally marry or endeavour to marry 
Heiresses without their own Consent. It has since been 
found out that they were married by a Roman Catholic 

There was a faint-hearted protest on the part of the 
Heet authorities, against the Marriages, but I can find 
no attempt at prosecution, other than for marrying with- 
out a stamped licence, in spite of the following advertise- 



Fortune's Married. 377 

" September, 1743. Whereas the Methods hitherto 
taken to prevent clandestine Marriages at the Fleet have 
prov'd ineffectual, though legal Notice hath been given 
by the Warden of the Fleet to such of hisTenants in 
whose houses it is reputed such Marriages have been 
suffer'd, to quit the Possession thereof; therefore, and as 
such Warning cannot immediately have the desir'd Effect, 
this Publick Notice is given, that, whoever shall make it 
appear to the Warden's Satisfaction that any of his Pri- 
soners, shall at any time hereafter clandestinely marry, 
or be, in any manner however, concern'd in any clandestine 
-Marriage, or suffer such Marriages to be performed in 
his, hers, or their Houses, or Lodgings, such Person or 
Persons making such Discovery, shall receive a Guinea 
Reward from the Turnkey of the said Prison. 

"William Manning, Turnkey." 

There were several people of fortune married by Fleet 
parsons vide Grub Street Journal^ September 18, 1735, 
*' Married yesterday Will Adams, Esqr., to Miss Eleanor 
Watkins, a beautiful young lady, with a fortune of 
;^ 1 5,000." And in the Gentleman s Magazine , May 
6, 1735, "Married the Lord Robert Montagu, to 
Mrs. Harriet Dunch of Whitehall, with a fortune of 
^15,000." 

Somewhat of a curiosity is recorded in " Notes and 
Queries," 4 series, vol. xii. p. 295. "I have before me an 
engraved medal, bearing the following inscription, about 
which I should be glad of information. ' May y^ 3, 
1 76 1. Thos. Wisely Maried Sarah Boswell in the 
Fleet Prison.'" This, in all probability, was a half- 



37^ Illegal Marriage. 

crown with one side made smooth, and the above 
engraved upon it. 

There is no doubt but that, with a duly stamped 
licence and until they were specially done away with by 
Lord Hardwicke's Act of 1753, these marriages were 
legal ; still there is an instance recorded in the General 
Evening Postj June ft, 1745, in which a Fleet 
marriage was ruled to be illegal. ^' Yesterday came on 
a cause at Doctor's Commons, wherein the plaintiff 
brought his action against the defendant for pretending 
to be his wife. She, in her justification, pleaded a 
marriage at the Fleet the 6th of February, 1737, and 
produced a Fleet Certificate, which was not allowed as 
evidence. She likewise offered to produce the minister 
she pretended married them, but he being excom- 
municate for clandestine marriages, could not be 
received as a witness. The Court thereupon pronounced 
against the marriage, and condemned her in ^^28, the 
costs of the suit." 

The Registers in which these marriages were entered 
have mostly had an eventful and chequered career. 
Many have, doubtless, disappeared for ever, and it is 
extremely probable that some are in private hands, one 
being in the Bodleian Library. They were to be bought by 
any one interested in them, and the present collection 
cannot be considered as being at all perfect. We learn 
the adventures of some of them through the evidence of 
a Mrs. Olive, who produced one at a trial at Shrewsbury 
in 1794. This woman was originally a servant to 
Joshua Lilly, and used to " ply " or tout for him, and 
at his death married one Owens, who succeeded to one 



Fleet Marriage Registers. 379 

of Lilly's marriage houses, and who, probably, bought 
his Registers from his representatives. At this Trial^she 
said : " My first husband was Thos. Owens. I had the 
Register Books of Fleet Marriages in my possession from 
my Marriage in 1761 till I went to America eleven 
years ago. I then sold them to Mr. Panton. My 
husband Owens died about 1773. My husband made 
a will. I had the possession of the books myself, as my 
husband had other business. I heard my husband say 
he purchased these books. He had a Marriage House 
in Fleet Lane. I used the books to grant certificates 
upon parish affairs." 

After her Marriage with Olive she still made use of 

o 

these Registers, for we read in an Advertisement that 
" All the original Register Books containing the marriages 
solemnized at the Fleet, May Fair, and the Mint, for 
upwards of one hundred years past, may be searched by 
applying to George Olive, at the Wheat Sheaf, in 
Nicholls Square, near Cripplegate. The great utility of 
these Collections prevents any encomiums." 

About 1783 a Mr. Benjamin Panton bought of Mrs. 
Olive some five or six hundred of these books, weigh- 
ing more than a ton, and used to produce them occa- 
sionally on trials at law, and they were always accepted 
as evidence. 

At his death in 1805 he left these to his daughter, 
who still utilised them as her father had done, as a hand- 
bill shows. "All the original Register Books of the 
Marriages in the Fleet, May Fair, and Mint, are now in 
the possession of M. Panton (Register Keeper), No. 
50, Houndsditch, by whom they are examined, and 
Certificates of Marriages granted." 



380 Fleet Marriage Registers. 

In 1 8 1 3 she sold them to a Mr. William Cox, who, 
in 1 82 1, sold them to the Government for ^^260 6s. 6d., 
and the following letter shows us what became of 
them. 

"Whitehall, April 25, 1821. 
" Sir, — It having been judged expedient to purchase 
a set of books containing the original Entries of Marriages 
solemnized in the Fleet Prison, and Rules thereof, from 
the year 1686 to the year 1754. I have been honoured 
with his Majesty's commands to desire that you will 
receive the said books from Mr. Maule the Solicitor to 
the Treasury, and give him a receipt for the same, and 
deposit them in the Registry of the Consistory Court of 
London. 

" I have the honour to be, Sir, 

" Your most obedient humble Servant, 

"SiDMOUTH. 

"The Registrar of the Consistory Court of London, 
or his Deputy." 

Here they remained until the abolition of the Court 
in 1840, by Act of Parliament, 3 and 4 Vic. cap. 92, 
when they were declared inadmissible as evidence in law. 
Sec. 6 says, " And be it enacted That all Registers and 
Records deposited in the General Register Office by 
virtue of this Act, except the Registers and Records of 
Baptisms and Marriages at The Fleet y and King's Bench 
Prisons, at May Fair^ at the Mint in Southwarky and 
elsewhere, which were deposited in the Registry of the 
Bishop of London in the Year One Thousand Eight 



Fleet Marriage Registers. 381 

Hundred and Twenty One, as hereinafter mentioned, 
shall be deemed to be in legal Custody, and shall be 
receivable in Evidence In all Courts of Justice, subject to 
the Provisions hereinafter contained." 

And Section 20 provides thus, ^'And be it enacted, 
That the several Registers and Records of Baptisms and 
Marriages performed at the Fleet " (&c., &c., as in 
Section 6) '^ shall be transferred from the said Registry 
to the Custody of the Registrar-General, who is hereby 
directed to receive the same for safe custody." And it 
recapitulates that they shall not be received as evidence 
at law. 

They are kept at Somerset House, where they can be 
examined for a small fee. A great number of them are 
memorandum books, and Burn, when he examined them 
at Doctors Commons, in 1833, did not much like his 
job. " It is to be wished that they were better arranged 
and indexed. There are several very large indexes, 
which only requires a little time and attention to ascertain 
to what Registers they refer. The Pocket books also, 
might be bound together, and preserved from dust and 
dirt ; and if Government would give about ;/^300 these 
objects might be attained. It was a labour of many 
months to go through so many hundreds of dusty, dirty, 
and sometimes ragged books." 

The entries in the pocket-books are quainter than those 
in the registries, as they are the first Impressions, and 
the others are polished up. We find from them that it 
was not infrequent to antedate the Registers, and Lilley 
did so on one occasion, "■ there being a vacancy in the 
Book suitable to the time." And, again, *' These 



382 Extracts from Registers. 

wicked people came this day, Peter Oliver, of St. 
Olave's, carpenter, and Elizabeth Overton, would have 
a certificate dated in 1729, or would not be married if it 
was not to be dated to this time — went to Lilley's and 
was married." 

Perhaps the most extraordinary entries in these books 
are those of two women going through the ceremony 
of marriage with each other — 

"20 May, 1737. J"° Smith, Gent, of S' James 
Wesf Batch-^ & Eliz. Huthall of S' Giles's Sp-" at 
Wilsons. By y^ opinion after Matrimony, my Clark 
judg'd they were both women, if y^ person by name 
John Smith be a man, he's a little short fair thin man, 
not above 5 foot. After marriage I almost c'd prove 
y"" both women, the one was dress'd as a man, thin pale 
face, & wrinkled chin." 

"1734 Dec. 15. John Mountford of S' Ann's 
Sohoe, Taylor. B., Mary Cooper. Ditto. Sp. Suspected 
2 Women, no Certif." 

" I Oct. 1747. John Ferren, Gent, Ser. of S' 
Andrew's Holborn B"" and Deborah Nolan. D° Sp". 
The supposed John Ferren was discovered after y^ Cere- 
monies were over, to be in person a woman." 

There is one entry, " The Woman ran across Lud- 
gate Hill in her shift." In the Daily Journal of 
November 8, 1725, a woman went to be married in that 
sole garment, at Ulcomb, in Kent ; and in the Parish 
Register of Chiltern All Saints in October 17, 17 14, it 
says : *' The aforesaid Anne Sell wood was married in her 



I 



Extracts from Registers. 383 

Smock, without any clothes or head gier on." This was 
a vulgar error, but the idea in so acting was that the 
husband was not liable for any of his wife's pre-nuptiai 
debts. 

The candidates for matrimony were occasionally not 
over-honest, as — " Had a noise for foure hours about 
the Money." " N.B. Stole a Silver Spoon." "Stole 
my Cloathes Brush." " N.B. Married at a Barber's 
Shop next Wilsons viz., one Kerrils for half a Guinea, 
after which it was extorted out of my pocket, and for 
fear of my life delivered." " They behaved very vilely, 
and attempted to run away with M" Crooks Gold 
Ring." 

But then, again, these Fleet parsons had customers of 
a higher grade, as " Dec. i, 1716. Dan Paul, S' James's, 
Capt" in y" Horse Guards." "March y" 4'^ 1740. 
William — and Sarah — he dress'd in a gold waistcoat 
like an Officer, she a Beautifull young Lady with 2 fine 
diamond Rings, and a Black high Crown Hat and very 
well dressed." " Nov. y^ 24, 1733 att y^ Baptized hed 
Tavern to go to M"" Gibbs for to marry him in y® coun- 
trey — Wife worth ^^i 8,000." "Sept' 5, 1744 Andrew 
Mills, Gent, of the Temple, & Charlotte Gail lairdy of 
S' Mildred, Poultry at M' Boyce's, King's head. N.B. 
One gentleman came first in a merry manner to make a 
bargain w"" the Minister for the marriage, and imme- 
diately came the parties themselves, disguising their 
dress by contrivances, particularly buttning up the coat, 
because the rich wastecoat should not be seen, &c." 

The Church of England Marriage Service was gene- 
rally used, but, in one instance, as shown by a pocket- 



384 End of Fleet Marriages, 

book, it was somewhat modified, as when the ring is 
given the Trinity is not mentioned, but the words are 
altered to " from this time forth for evermore. Amen;" 
and when the couple promise to hold together " accord- 
ing to God's holy ordinance," it was rendered " according 
to law." There seems to have been but one example 
of the officiating Clergyman administering the Sacra- 
ment at a Marriage, and that was done by the Rev. W. 
Dan, who describes himself as " priest of the Church of 
England." " October 2"*^ 1743 John Figg, of S' John's 
the Evang^ Gent, a Widower, and Rebecca Woodward, 
of Ditto, Spinster, at y^ same time gave her y'' Sacra- 
ment." 

The Scandal of Fleet Marriages remained unchecked 
until 1753, when the Lord Chancellor brought forward 
and passed '■'An Act for the better preventing of clan- 
destine marriages" — 26 Geo. III. cap. 23 — which, in 
its different sections, provides that the Banns of Matri- 
mony are to be published according to the rubric, &c., 
the marriage to be solemnized in one of the churches 
where the banns had been published. Marriage by 
licence could only take place in the church or chapel of 
such parish, &c., where one of the parties should have 
resided for four weeks previously. 

This was the death-blow to the Fleet Marriages, as 
any contravention of the law was made punishable by 
transportation " to some of his Majesty's plantations in 
America for the space of fourteen years, according to the 
laws in force for the transportation of felons." 

The Act came into force on March 26, 1754, but 
people took advantage of the Fleet Marriages until the 



End of Fleet Marriages. 385 

last moment, and that In great numbers, for in one 
Register alone there is a list of 2 1 7 weddings celebrated 
on the 25 th of March ! 

The last Fleet Wedding is recorded in the Times of 
July 10, 1840 : " Mr. John Mossington, aged 76, and 
a Prisoner in the Fleet, more than 15 years, was, on 
Wednesday, married to Miss Anne Weatherhead, aged 
62, at St. Bride's Church, The Lady had travelled 36 
Miles to meet her bridegroom, who is, without excep- 
tion, one of the most extraordinary men in this County. 
He takes his morning walks round the Fleet prison 
yard, which he repeats three or four times a day, with 
as much rapidity as a young man could do of the age 
of 20. The Road from Farringdon Street to the 
Church, was lined with Spectators who knew of the 
event, and the Church was equally filled to hear 
the Ceremony performed. The Courtship first com- 
menced 41 years ago, and Mr. Mossington has now 
fulfilled hi* promise." 



The End. 



26 




INDEX. 



Aldgate Pump, I 

Alsatia, 223, 224 

Annis (Dame) the Cleare, 10 

Antiquarian Discoveries, 18, 19 

Apothecaries Hall, 205 

Apprentices and City Authorities, 

216, 217, 218 
Archer, J. W., 81 
Archery, 116, 117 
Artillery Ground, 116 
Ashwell, E., 344, 345, 346 

Bagnigge House, 81, 82, 83, 84, 

85 
Bagnigge Wells, 4, 73, 77, 78, 

79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 

90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 

120 
Bambridge, Thos., 268, 269, 270, 

271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 296 
Basset, Bartholomew, 337, 338 
Battle Bridge, 38, 39 
Baynard's Castle, 5-15 
Bear baiting, 139, 140, 141 



Begging Grate, 275, 276 
Billingsgate, fountain at, 14 
Black Mary's Hole, 77, 78, 79, 

85 
Bleeding Heart Yard, 164 
Boughton, 247, 250, 251, 252, 

253 
"Boy" (Prince Rupert's Dog), 

154 

Brabazon, Roger Ic, 6-15 

Brent, the, 21 

Bridewell, 206, 207, 208, 209, 
210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 
216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221 

Brill, the, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 

43 
Brooke Street, Hanover Square, 

2 
Brothers, 105 
Brown's Dairy, 34 
Bull baiting, 139, 141, 142, 143, 

144, 145, 146, 147 
Burner's Wedding, the, 365, 366, 

367, 368 



388 



Index. 



Cantelows, 32, 35, 49 

Chad's, St., Well, 45,46, 47, 48, 

49' 5O' Sh 52 
Chcapc Conduit, 14 
City Authorities and Apprentices, 

216, 217, 2l8j 
Clement's Well, 8, 9 
Clerken Well, 4, 8, 9, 45, 183, 

184,^185 
Cobham's Head, 115 
Cock, a man eats a live, 70 
Coldbath, 4, III, 112 
Coldbath Fields, lii, 118, 119 
Coldbath Fields Prison, 99, 100, 

loi, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 

107, 108, 109, no 
Coin, stinks at, 16 
Conduits, 13, 14 
Conduit, White, 54, 55, 56, 57, 

58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 

66, 120 
Coppin, Edward, 255, 256, 257 
Cornhill, the Tun in, 14 
Court Room at Bridewell, 219, 

220, 221 
Cresswell, Mother, 219 
Cripplegate, fountain at, 14 
Cripplegate Pool, 8, 1 1 
Cruikshank, Isaac Robert, 309, 
310 

Dustman, the Literary, 44, 45 

Election, a mock, 308, 309 
"Elephant," skeleton of, found, 

17 
Ely Place, 163, 164, 165, 166, 

167, 1 68, 169, 170 
Everett, John, 41, 42 



Fagin, 158, 159, 160, 161 
Fag's Well, 8, 10 
FalstafF, Sir John, 240 
Field Lane, 158, 160, 161 
Fighting, 137, 138, 139 
Fleet Bridge, 189, 190, 191, 193 
Fleet, derivation of name, 2 
Fleet Ditch, 1-7, 14, i6, 17, 18, 

19, 20, 176, 226 
Fleet Market, 186, 187, 188 
Fleet Marriages, 327, 328, 329, 
330, 331, 333, 335» 336, 337, 
338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 
344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 
350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 

356, 359, 362, 363, 364, 365, 
366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 

372, 373, 375, 376, 377, 378, 
379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 
385 

Fleet Prison, the, 229, 230, 231, 
232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 
238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 
244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 
250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 
256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 
262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 
268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 
274, 275, 276, 279, 280, 281, 
282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 
288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 294, 
295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 
301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 
307, 308, 309, 310, 312, 313, 
314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 
320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325 

Fleet Registers, 378, 379, 380, 
381, 382, 383, 384 



Index. 



389 



Fleet River, 26, 27, 28, 29, 100, 
155, 172, 185, 186, 188, 225, 
227 
Floud, John, 346, 347, 348 
Forcer, proprietor of Sadler's 

Wells, 71 
Foster, Sir Stephen, 201, 202 
Fountain at Billingsgate, 14 
Fountain at Paul's Wharf, 14 
Fountain at St. Giles, Cripple- 
gate, 14 

Garnish, 293, 294, 295 

Garth, Dr., 205 

Gaynam, John, 340, 341, 342, 

343 
Gordon, Lord George, 25, 301, 

302 
Gospel Oak, 29, 30, 31 
Griffith, Chas., 91 
Gwynne, Nell, 32, 81, 82, 83 

Hampstead, 7-14, 26 
Hampstead Ponds, 27 
Harris, Alex., Warden of the 

Fleet, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 

250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 

256, 257, 258, 259 
Hatton Garden, 163 
Hatton, the Chancellor, 163, 164 
Hemp beetling at Bridewell, 210, 

211, 213 
Hockley-in-the-Hole, 137, 139, 

146, 147, 148, 152 
Hogarth, 274 
Holborn Bridge, 170, 172, 173, 

174, 175, 176 
Holy Well, 8, 9, 10 



Horse Pool, 8, 1 1 

Howard, John, 214, 216, 295, 

296, 297 
Huggins, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 

272, 275 
"Humours of the Fleet," 279, 

280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 

286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291 
Hunt, "Orator," 129, 130, 131, 

132, 133, 134 
Huntingdon, Lady, 122, 123, 124, 
125 

Keith, Parson, 349, 35°. 354' 3 5^, 

357, 358, 359' 360, 361 
Ken Wood, 25 
Kentish Town, 27, 28, 32, 33, 34, 

35 
King's Cross, 38, 43, 44 

Ladies' ablutions, 113 

Lamb's Conduit, 4, 179, 180, 181, 

182 
Lando, James, 354, 355 
Langbourne, 8 
Leveland, Nathaniel de, 229 
Lilley, John, 352 
Lilley, Joshua, 349, 351, 352, 378 
Loders Well, 8, 10 
Ludgate Prison, 195, 196, 197, 

198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203 

Macklin, 72 

Man drowned in the Fleet River, 

226 
Man frozen in the Fleet River, 

226 
Mansfield, Earl of, 25 



39° 



Index. 



Marriages, 330, 331, '332. 372, 

375 
Mary Ic Bourne, St., 2 
Mayfair Chapel, 357, 358, 360 
Merlin's Cave, 129 
Miles' Musick house, 69 
Mill at Bridewell, 209, 210 
Moat, the Fleet Prison, 235, 236 
Montfitchet Castle, 208 
Mottram, John, 339 

Nelson, Lord, 35 
Northampton Chapel, 123 

Oastler, Richard, 325 
Old Bourne, 5, 8 
Oldcastle, the Sir John, 17, 112, 
114, 115, 116, 117, 118 

Pancras, St., 29, 36, 37 

Pancras Wash, 38 

Pantheon, the, 119, 120, 121, 
122 

Parliament Hill, 31, 36 

Parsons, Fleet, 328, 333, 334, 335, 
336, 337, 338, 339' 340, 341, 
342. 343, 344, 345, 34^, 347, 
348, 349. 350, 35i> 352, 353, 
354, 355, 356 

Paul's Wharf, fountain at, 14 

Peerless Pool, 1 1 

Periless Pond, 1 1 

Physicians, College of, 205 

Pickwick and Hampstead Ponds, 
27 

Pindar of Wakefield, 73, 74, 75 

Pools, 8-1 1 

Prisoners, Poor, 324, 325 



" Punch" and Bagnigge Wells, 93, 
94, 95, 96 

Rackets, 303, 304, 305 

Rad Well, 8, 10, 80 

Rhone, 48, 51 

Riots, no Popery, 25, 26, 301, 

302, 303 
Rules of the Fleet, 263 
Rupert, Prince, 154 
Rush boats, 21 
Rye House Plot, 188, 189 

Sadler's Wells, 53, 67, 68, 69, 

70, 71, 73, 120 
Saffron Hill, 155, 156, 157 
Schools, King Edward's, 218, 219 
Sedley Place, Oxford Street, 1 3 
Shepherd's Well, Hampstead, 22 
Skinner's Well, 8-10 
Small Pox Hospital, 118, 119 
Spa Fields Chapel, 123, 124 
Spa Field Riots, 127, 129, 130, 

131, 132, 133, 134, 135 
"Spence's Plan," 127, 128 
Springs, 1-7, 8, 9, 10 
"Steel," The, 102 
Sword Play, 147, 148, 149, 150, 

151, 152 
Symson, Peter, 353, 354 

Tod Well, 10 

Tonne, or Tunnc, the, in Corn- 
hill, 14 
Toxophilite Society, 116 
Traitor's Hill, 31, 36 
Treadmill, Early, 209, 210 
Turnmill Brook, 6 



Ind 



EX. 



39^ 



Turnmill Street and Brook, 170 
Tyebourne, The, 2, 13, 22, 23 

Waithman, Alderman, 193, 194 

Walbrook, 2-8 

Ward, Ned, on Bridewell, 212, 
213, 214 

Wardens of the Fleet, 229, 230, 
231, 232, 233, 234, 237, 245, 
247, 24S, 249, 250, 251, 252, 

253» 254, 2SS, 256, 257, 258, 

259, 260, 261, 262, 265, 266, 

267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 

304, 313, 314 

Wardens of the Fleet — Ladies^ 
231, 232 

Warwick, Earl of, 205 



Wells, River of, 4, 7, 8, 53 
Westbournc, the, 23 
West Street, 155, 156, 157, 158 
Whipping at Bridewell, 212,213, 

214 
Whistling Shop, a, 306, 307, 308 
Whitbrooke, Sir John, 247, 248, 

249, 250, 251, 252, 253 
White Conduit, 4, 53 
Whitefriars, 223, 224, 225 
Whittington, Sir Rd., 1 1 
Wilkes, John, 193, 194, 195 
Wolscy, Cardinal, 240, 241, 242 
Wyatt, Walter, 333, 348, 349, 

350 

"Zigzag," 81 



£c 



UNWIN BROTHERS, 

THE GRESHAM PRESS, 

CHILWORTH AND LONDON. 



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